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Warhammer 40K planning multiple payment options
Despite being one of THQ's biggest projects, the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online won't be hemmed in with a single subscription option. Instead, the company said that it is investigating a wide range of possible payment options to be as flexible as possible for players all over the world. Speaking at a recent earnings call, CEO Brian Farrell addressed what model WAR40K would adopt. "What we've done is make the business model within Dark Millennium Online flexible so we can use different business models in different territories and exploit the game on a worldwide basis," he said. "We will have not just one business model, like subscriptions. There will be other monetisation mechanisms in the game... The team there is being very thoughtful about how we maximise monetisation in this game." Seeing as how WAR40K is costing the company over $50 million to create, it seems wise to offer multiple options in order to draw in the largest amount of players possible. The title is being developed by Vigil Games and is slated to release in 2013.
THQ mobile shake up leaves 100 staffers without jobs
True to its word, THQ downsized its wireless division. According to THQ's Brian Farrell, the realignment will see the company "focus only on games for high-end handheld devices," sending around a hundred of its mobile phone staff to the unemployment line.The company stated plans to "restructure" its European wireless subsidiary earlier this week, though Moconews reports that THQ has also shuttered is San Diego mobile studio in addition to its wireless offices in both the UK and Germany. For now, the company's Universomo studio in Finland will be the hub for THQ's wireless efforts, promising that iPhone users will have all the Worms they can handle for the foreseeable future.[Via VG247]
THQ boss declares console cycles dead
THQ president and CEO Brian Ferrell believes traditional hardware cycles are dead. MTV Multiplayer reports that Ferrell explained his thinking at a leadership conference and believes there are now several sub-cycles in the industry. Sub-cycle #1: The Handheld market. Sub-cycle #2: The Wii market. Sub-cycle #3: The Xbox 360 and PS3 market. Ferrell even thinks that the online market is becoming its own category. He expresses it's hard to do business around traditional concepts like "the cycle" and that THQ now plans around platforms. The THQ CEO does have a point, there's a lot of different pools for publishers and developers to jump in ... although we hear someone left a deposit in the PC one.
