THQ president talks up new $40 sales model, building a user base
THQ president Brian Farrell has some bold ideas about the future of the gaming industry's profitability. While speaking at the recent BMO Capital Markets Conference, Farrell explained, "What we're thinking about the business is we're turning it on its head a little bit," later adding, "It's not, 'how high a price can we get', but 'how many users.'" Farrell then described THQ's vision for capitalizing on that policy: As revealed in September, THQ hopes to launch the next entry into the MX vs. ATV series at a lower price point, and rely on DLC to bring in the big bucks.
"When we launched [MX vs. ATV] at $59.99, we'd do some units, and then when we brought the price down to the mass market-friendly price of $39.99, it would just pop," he explained to the conference's attendees. "So the thinking this time is, let's initially launch at $39.99 ... It's a AAA title, at that price point, but then with a series of DLC so people can extend their experience." The company's strategy makes a lot more sense, now. See, before, we just thought they were dropping the MSRP because they wanted to do a nice thing for us.
