March 29, 2012 by Paul Curtin
Things just keep getting worse and worse at troubled gaming publisher THQ. The failing company has been laying off hundreds of employees to try to save their stock, which is on the verge of being delisted from NASDAQ and becoming worthless. Back in February THQ let go of 240 employees and since that hasn’t helped their stock, one of their main developers, Vigil Games, is now laying off 79 employees in Austin, and another 39 employees are being let go at Relic Entertainment.
The reduction of team sizes is a result of even worse news that one of THQ’s most anticipated and biggest projects, Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium Online, will no longer be an MMORPG, and instead current development of the game will be shifted to a single-player and multiplayer experience.
“As previously announced, we have been actively looking for a business partner for the game as an MMO,” said Brian Farrell, THQ president and CEO. “However, based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features.
“Because we believe strongly in the high-quality and vast creative work that is in production, this is the right decision for both our portfolio and for gamers devoted to this powerful property.”
