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Hey, THQ’s making money again!

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Buy Darksiders II. Save THQ. Also, Hail XENU!

Publisher and developer THQ has been in a spot of financial bother of late – largely thanks to higher-ups insisting on targeting the casual market with its failed U-Draw tablet accessory. The company’s faced stock-market delisting – and has had to offload numerous properties, including the lucrative UFC licence, which now belongs to EA. For a while, it seemed as if THQ would soon cease to be, which would be a travesty for gamers. Thankfully, it looks like things are turning around – as the company’s becoming profitable once more.

In its most recent financial statement, the company’s reported a net profit of $15.4 million for the first quarter. That’s a significant change from the near $40 million loss that it made in the same period last year. The return to profitability comes from the success, largely, of Saints Row: the third – as well as some rather drastic cost-cutting exercises.

The company binned Tomonobu Itagaki’s devilishly expensive to produce Devil’s Third – and just yesterday announced it was scrapping Guillermo Del Toro’s horror trilogy Insane. As result of this clampdown on development, marketing and a drop on executive salaries, the company’s operating costs are less than half of what they were last year – down to $35.5m from $93m.

As a result, it’ll be releasing just five games until the next financial year – all of which are aimed at core games. Those games are:

  • Darksiders 2 (August 2012)
  • WWE ’13 (October 2012)
  • Company of Heroes 2 (Jan-March 2013)
  • Metro: Last Light (Jan-March 2013)
  • South Park: The Stick of Truth (March 2013)

"We have made significant progress reshaping the company,"THQ boss Brian Farrell told investors yesterday. "With the changes implemented over the last several months, we are in a much better position today to deliver on our pipeline of games, beginning with Darksiders II, which launches next week in North America.

“We are also pleased to have new management on board at THQ, led by President Jason Rubin, who brings tremendous experience to the company and has a proven track record of bringing multimillion unit sellers to market."Rubin and his new team bring an entrepreneurial approach to our game slate as we seek to maximize the value of our intellectual properties and evolve our business in the face of our increasingly digital future."

If the leaner, trimmer, THQ means they’re shelving games – but the guys at Vigil and Volition get to keep their jobs, I’m ok with that.

Last Updated: August 7, 2012

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