Struggling 
publisher THQ is looking even more vulnerable after the company announced plans Tuesday to push back the release of its three biggest upcoming releases and suspend all earnings guidance for the foreseeable future.
The company also announced it had hired an adviser to help it review its options and find new ways to raise money. Investors were quick to punish the company’s stock, with THQ shares plunging 42 percent Wednesday morning.
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.
Every 
industry has down cycles, but for several companies in the videogame space, 2012 can’t end soon enough.
While the year is likely to finish stronger than it started, with the launch of Nintendo’s Wii U console and the return of popular franchises like “Halo 4” and “Call of Duty Black Ops 2,” pretty much everything that could go wrong in the first half of the year has.
THQ 
is taking some drastic measures after a string of sales disappointments.
The game publisher, once the industry’s third largest, has laid off 240 employees and cut its CEO’s salary in half for a year, according to an SEC filing. This follows a recent announcement that the company’s stock might be removed from the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Five 
years ago THQ was one of the videogame industry’s biggest publishers. Today, the company is struggling to stay afloat.
The troubled game maker is facing a possible delisting from the Nasdaq stock exchange, announced the layoff of 240 employees Wednesday and slashed its CEO’s salary in half for the next year as sales have plummeted. Further, last week the company announced plans to abandon the once lucrative children’s licensed games business to focus on titles for a core audience.
Troubled 
publisher THQ is massively reorganizing itself yet again, but is the elimination of its licensed kids’ games and 240 members of its staff enough to convince shareholders that the company means it this time?
The cloud hovering over THQ’s corporate head got a lot darker Wednesday – and the long-term forecast is pretty uncertain.
While there’s certainly nothing happy about 240 employees losing their jobs and it’s never a good sign when a CEO slashes his own salary, the actions could be the start of what THQ needs to do to ensure its long-term survival. But they may not be the end.
It may be 
the industry’s fourth-largest third-party publisher, but with financial woes and no inspiring product schedule to alleviate them, THQ could be facing a possible NASDAQ delisting.
THQ just can’t catch a break these days.
While whispers of the company canceling its entire 2014 lineup were quickly discounted by the company, it can’t deny the dire state of its stock.
Chris Morris: Journalist 