Tag Archives: brian farrell

THQ: Is this the beginning of the end?

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With most of its games delayed, and with the company pulling all financial guidance, looking desperately for more money, and refusing questions from analysts, Gamasutra analyst Chris Morris wonders if there’s a future left.

It’s starting to look like THQ is entering the end game.

The company beat the forecasts of financial analysts Monday, but tempered that good news with a lot of bad. Earnings guidance was suspended. The guidance for the rest of this fiscal year? Just forget about that, said the company. Big games? Delayed – with the biggest being pushed into the next fiscal year. And the money? Running short.

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Opinion: Despite Zelnick’s prediction, THQ not quite on life support

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Take-Two’s CEO was blunt when he recently said THQ would be gone in six months. Gamasutra editor-at-large Chris Morris argues it’ll still be around in 2012, but THQ needs to figure out a gameplan soon.

Industry watchers were treated to a rare bit of executive candor Thursday from Take-Two Interactive Software’s CEO.

Strauss Zelnick’s comment that “THQ won’t be around in six months” was shocking not so much because of his prediction, but because they seemed less like the contrived back-and-forth between Electronic Arts and Activision-Blizzard – and more honest opinion. The bigger question is: Was he right?

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Interview: CEO Farrell On THQ’s Path Through The Changing Game Landscape

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[Gamasutra’s Editor-at-Large Chris Morris spoke to THQ CEO Brian Farrell as the company ramps up its digital distribution business while experimenting with lower price-points for boxed product.]

THQ and the broader video game industry have a lot in common. Both have struggled financially in the past couple of years. Both are seeing their role in the greater entertainment landscape change. And both are seeing the evolution of financial models that have served them well for years.

Leading the charge for those changes at THQ is CEO Brian Farrell. He’s in the unenviable position of leading a company that’s in the midst of what he calls a “turnaround year” – with significant growth not expected to resume until 2012. To get the company to that point, though, he’s throwing out a lot of the industry’s standard practices and he’s raising a few eyebrows in the process.

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