Danny-Bilson
Latest
THQ puts Devil's Third in 2012, announces UFC Trainer
While we were furiously running from appointment to appointment somewhere inside the LA Convention Center last week, THQ was busy holding an investor call -- and subsequently detailing a densely packed game release future. While we already heard from the publisher back in February that Darksiders and Saint's Row sequels would be arriving sometime in fiscal 2012 (between March 2011 and April 2012), it seems that Valhalla Games' debut effort Devil's Third will join the fold (as evidenced by the above image). Also of note, "UFC Trainer" was detailed in the financial call as a Kinect/Move/Wii exercise/training title set for release in Jan 2011 (as reported by GameSpot). It's aiming to contend with the likes of EA Sports Active and Wii Fit, albeit with a tougher slant. "We want this thing tuned to perfection without lag. And I'm not going to ship it until it's the coolest fighting thing in the world," THQ exec Danny Bilson said of UFC Trainer, explaining its absence from E3. He also reconfirmed that a sequel to Darksiders has been "greenlit" and is currently in production, though said nothing of the Devil's Third release window specifically (presumably for fear of being sliced to bits by Valhalla's ninjas).
THQ planning big for Natal, but waiting for install base to grow
Speaking to CVG, THQ core games exec Danny Bilson revealed that he's got quite an ambitious idea for Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal peripheral; specifically, he cites plans for a "core game" that leverages Natal's motion-sensing tech "in a really, really cool way." That said, Bilson intimates that the budget for such a game -- which he estimates to be from $30-40 million -- would prevent the game from being released before the Natal install base is large enough to support it. Still, he adds, "The concept I have uses every corner of that tech and maybe in a couple of years we'll do it." Whatever Bilson's mystery project is, he certainly seems excited by the technology. Just last week, Bilson was talking up another project that THQ plans to announce at E3, which may or may not be the "super awesome" and "physically active" Natal project he told Joystiq about during GDC. THQ was also one of the first companies to reveal it had been working on Natal dev kits when Microsoft first announced the peripheral last year.
THQ Core Games VP teases fighting game and motion game for E3
Danny Bilson – executive vice president of "Core Games" at rebounding publisher THQ – recently told CVG that his "fighting group is actually taking on the management of another game that we're going to announce at E3 that has a certain amount of melee combat in it ... ." Before spilling all the beans, Bilson added, "It's a major developer and you'll get exactly what I'm talking about when I'm able to talk about it. It's really cool, it's another one of the things I'm doing to rebuild everything around the core division of THQ." This reminded us of something Bilson told Joystiq when we spoke with him at the Game Developer's Conference earlier this month. "We have one active product that we're going to announce pretty soon and it's on Move, it's on Wii, and it's on Natal," Bilson said. When asked if "active product" meant "physically active" Bilson replied, "It's physically active. On a big brand. And it's super awesome, we'll definitely show it at E3. I'm very proud of it." Whether or not these two projects are one and the same remains to be seen, but there are some parallels worth pointing out: A "certain amount of melee combat" could allude to a "physically active" product and this unnamed fighting game is "really cool" while the unnamed motion game is "super awesome."
THQ's Bilson: Research and focus testing will 'usually destroy' creativity
During an interview at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, THQ executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson told Joystiq that market research creates "bland" titles, citing it is not a process his group is willing to utilize for future development. "We don't do research to find out what people want to play. If you need to do that kind of research you must not be playing games yourself," Bilson said, noting that research and overusing focus tests can "misguide creative forces." According to Bilson, his core group at THQ is ruled by creating "excellent" titles. Put simply, Bilson says he will not ship a game if it's not "really good" -- noting that doing otherwise will make it impossible for him to "sleep at night." As an example of this process, Bilson noted his decision to push Darksiders from a 2009 release into the early-2010 calendar in order to ensure the game was of high quality. (Darksiders currently holds an average Metacritic rating of 83.) "Inspiration comes from one place and research and focus testing will usually destroy it. It will usually create 'bland' and create something for everyone and really nothing for anyone," he said, praising the idea that publishers should not ship a game until it's ready. "If my teams make really good games, in the long run, that's what people relate to. They're not buying advertising, they're not buying Wall Street nonsense. They're buying what's on that disc."
THQ developing downloadable games based on 'core' brands
"Very aggressive" is the phrase THQ executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson used to describe his company's plans for downloadable titles across the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC platforms during a GDC 2010 interview with Joystiq. With two studios dedicated to the downloadable space -- THQ Digital Studios Phoenix (formerly Rainbow Studios) and THQ Digital Studios UK (formerly Juice Games) -- Bilson told us THQ plans to release "up to six" downloadable titles within the next year, some based on the company's biggest brands. "We're going to be building stuff on some of our core brands," Bilson said, noting the plan is to create downloadable titles within the same universe as THQ's major franchises in order to improve brand awareness. Surprisingly, Bilson's plans include "giving away" some of the upcoming downloadable games, although he did not specify how this idea would be executed. Bilson's theory is that by getting players "involved" in its franchises via downloadable titles, THQ can help drive pre-orders and awareness for their big-budget (in relation) retail counterparts. While he would not specify which THQ franchises would get downloadable titles, we were told the plan is to roll out this strategy on "two or three" of THQ's biggest franchises (à la Square Enix's upcoming Lara Croft game from developer Crystal Dynamics). But the plan doesn't end there: Similar to the approach taken by Microsoft's Fable II: Pub Games experiment, downloadable releases based on THQ's major brands will unlock content within the retail releases, teasing players with potential advantages to purchasing related retail titles; retail games will also unlock content in downloadable titles, to help drive players to explore more content within that franchise's universe. "You're going to see some of our core brands built out in different kinds of gameplay to get people involved in the brands and drive awareness towards a launch."
Next Red Faction planned for March 2011, focus on franchise's roots
In an interview with Joystiq during the 2010 Game Developer's Conference, THQ's executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson let a few new details slip about the upcoming sequel to the critical-smash hit Red Faction: Guerrilla. "The new game takes [Red Faction] to a whole new place, it kind of goes back to the old Red Faction because about 80% of it is underground," Bilson said. According to Bilson, the as-yet-properly-named sequel -- which he describes as a "hybrid" between the first two titles in the Red Faction franchise and Guerrilla -- is planned for release in March 2011. (In February, THQ's annual investors conference call vaguely stated a Guerrilla sequel was planned for the company's "fiscal 2011" window.) Bilson was tight-lipped on other details but did confirm the upcoming open-world third-person shooter would be far more "structured," akin to a "narrative" shooter. The sequel will still feature the destructibility Bilson says cost THQ "a fortune" to develop for Guerrilla, but will have a much greater impact on cities built closer together in the tight confines of the new underground world. Although Guerrilla captivated most critics (netting a Metacritic average of 85 across three platforms) the third-person shooter failed to meet THQ's sales expectations. While Bilson said it would have been easy to scrap the characters and setting in the upcoming sequel and shift it into a new intellectual property -- effectively severing its connection to Guerrilla's poor retail showing -- he felt the quality in the previous entry was too great to abandon the Red Faction universe. The strategy now, says Bilson, is to expose gamers to the series in order to prepare them for the future, citing the recent Red Faction: Guerrilla giveaway promotion as an example of giving the title the exposure it "deserved" at launch. "Giving away the stock now, on Red Faction, is getting more people exposed to the IP because we're going bigger on Red Faction next time," Bilson told us. "If the game wasn't so good, we wouldn't be giving it away at all."
THQ: Quality of current titles enhanced by recent mass layoffs
Danny Bilson, who is now the executive VP of Core Games at THQ following last week's shuffle, says that shutting down several studios and dismissing 550 employees was necessary to create the "new THQ." He explains to GI.biz that the surviving studios were given more money to enhance the "quality" (another buzzword around THQ lately) of the titles in development. Bilson notes Red Faction: Guerrilla was given four extra months and millions in cash, which he believes was "worth every penny" -- reviewers apparently agree.The full interview with Bilson is quite notable for how frankly the executive discusses the prior state of the company, which lost $431 million last year. He explains that convincing executives that change was necessary wasn't difficult because THQ was in a "failure state." He also continues to drum home the point that the company is invested in focusing on the quality of its future core titles.
'New THQ' avoiding unacceptable waste, believes it 'can only succeed with great games'
This "new THQ" that Senior VP of Creative Development Danny Bilson recently discussed in an interview with IndustryGamers is totally freaking us out. Although we've yet to really see the great turnaround at the beleaguered publisher -- which took a $431 million loss last year -- Bilson is talking a good game. He's using words like "quality" and saying the publisher will stop a title in the early research and development phase if it's not looking good.THQ has been discussing a focus on the core and upping its quality levels for a while now. The company is also altering its image from being the king of licensed titles, to focusing on original IP (Darksiders) with "transmedia" opportunities. A fancy term, that at its core, means using original IP and selling it in various media streams like movies, comics and whatever else.Although the interview doesn't reveal anything new, it is interesting to see THQ actually learning from its lower quality titles and heavily licensed past. Now we'll have to wait a while to see if consumers reward the "new THQ" with sales.
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.
