THQ looks to internal dev for future growth

MCV sister site

Develop

reports that an investors meeting recently hosted by Lazard Capital Markets with THQ has shown the ambitious American publisher’s plans to grow its business.

THQ recently suffered a net loss of $7m in the Q2 following poor performances of its new Stuntman and Juiced games.

However the firm is planning to bring closer alignment between its product quality and marketing strategy, with plans to bolster the amount of revenues generated by its internal teams.

"THQ now has 1,600 developers across 16 studios worldwide following a ramp in headcount during the last console cycle, and the company expects that 40 per cent of its revenues will come from its internal studios this year, up from 30 per cent in F2006," commented analyst Colin Sebastian at Lazard.

THQ is also hoping to increase the revenue made from owned concepts as it focuses more effort on making games for Nintendo and Microsoft platforms.

"We expect THQ to remain more closely aligned with Nintendo and Microsoft platforms over the next couple of years, reflecting THQ’s historical strength on handhelds (GBA and DS), increasing development slate for Nintendo’s Wii, early success with titles on the Xbox 360 (e.g. Saints Row) and a slower ramp on the PS3," added Sebastian.