THQ to rethink UFC strategy?

Not for the first time, THQ has pointed the finger at the tough competitive window” for causing the lower then expected sales of recent release UFC Undisputed 2010.

THQ suffered a $30.1m loss in its last financial quarter. UFC was named as one of the reasons for this slip. Although it sold 2.7m units in the April-June quarter, this was down on the 3.5m units sold by predecessor UFC 2009 Undisputed.

There was also the fact that last year THQ was bolstered by the success of Red Faction Guerrilla. The next title in the series, Red Faction Armageddon, will arrive in Q1 2011.

What this means in the long-run is that THQ is considering changing tact with UFC, with Brian Farrell telling investors that we’re considering a longer development cycle –15, 18, 21 months, rather than annually”.

Despite this, two further UFC releases will make it to retail before the end of the current financial year – UFC Undisputed 2010 on PSP and a Kinect-based UFC Fitness game.