THQ Shutters Three Studios

Video game publisher THQ made a major announcement on studio closings Tuesday, calling it a “strategic realignment of its internal studio development teams”. The company is moving away from kids games and movie properties. The affected studios include Blue Tongue (de Blob), THQ Studio Australia, and THQ Digital Studio Phoenix (MX vs. ATV).

“With this realignment, we are narrowing our focus to high-quality owned IP with broad appeal that can be leveraged across multiple platforms, and to work with the best talent in the industry,” said Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ. “By right-sizing our internal development capacities for our console portfolio, our five internal studios are focused on delivering high-quality games with talented teams driving the execution of those titles to market. As we have outlined in our business strategies, we are making shifts to reduce movie-based and licensed kids’ video games in our portfolio, which underscores our strategy to move away from games that will not generate strong profits in the future.”