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THQ worldwide studio exec leaves, job split into three roles
THQ's "internal problems" popped up again as Exec. VP of Worldwide Studios Jack Sorensen has quit the company. Sorensen's role will now be played by three different executives promoted from within the company. The company's president, Brian Farrell, believes this will make "a more efficient management structure."THQ has been on a bad road lately, pinning many of its hopes and blockbuster dreams this year on a few titles like Saints Row 2. The company laid off 200 employees in May and has been having negative financial reports for a year. If Atari can turn it around, there's hope for THQ.
THQ tries to clean up its act with two new execs
Coupled with the announcement that it's canning the PS3 port of Frontlines: Fuel of War and giving up on the Juiced and Stuntman franchises, THQ announced the creation of two new positions "to help drive new intellectual property creation and product quality initiatives" within the company's internal studios. A quick search reveals that THQ has some sixteen studios under its belt (including the newly purchased Big Huge Games), with the majority of those producing lucrative licensed fodder.Danny Bilson's rocking the newly created title of vice president, creative development, worldwide studios – a position that will see him continuing the work he did at EA where he played "a key creative role" in franchises like The Sims, Medal of Honor and, uh, Harry Potter (also known as Will Wright's game, that WWII shooter game, and that game based on that movie based on that book). Roy Tessler's got himself the newly created title of vice president, production, worldwide studios where he'll use his experience working on hits like MX vs. ATV Untamed and Cars 2: Mater-National to "heighten [THQ's] focus on [its] production processes."So, let's get this straight: the guy THQ hired to "drive new intellectual property creation" previously worked on a WWII franchise and the Harry Potter games, while the guy it promoted to "drive new ... product quality initiatives" worked on MX vs. ATV Untamed which Gamespot notably said didn't meet the "same standard of quality" as its competitors. We appreciate the effort guys, really, but we're remaining skeptical until we see some serious turnaround in the "games we want to play" department.
