THQ delays and cancels more games, CoH 2 still on track

THQ has delayed South Park: The Game to the fourth quarter of its 2013 financial year.

That is, it will now launch at some point from the beginning of January to the end of March 2013. It had been due out this year.

Meanwhile, THQ confirmed last night that it has dropped Devil’s Third, the action game made by Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki.

During an investor call THQ boss Brian Farrell said Devil’s Third no longer “fits THQ’s profile”, and was unlikely to make a profit. Apparently the game ran into trouble when the company supplying Itagaki’s studio Valhalla with a game engine went out of business, forcing the team to switch engines mid-way through development.

This proved to be a costly dent in THQ’s publishing effort. “When we ranked all of our product releases when we underwent our restructuring, the profitability of Devil’s Third wasn’t comparable with our other franchises,” Farrell said.

Company of Heroes 2, developed by Relic Entertainment, launches in “early calendar 2013”. There’s a “strong post-launch digital content plan”, too.

So, THQ’s upcoming release schedule is as follows:

• Darksiders 2; console, PC; August 2012.
• Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix; console, PC; September 2012.
• Annual WWE Game; console, PC; Q3 FY13.
• Company of Heroes 2; PC; Q4 FY13.
• Metro: Last Light; console, PC; Q4 FY13.
• South Park: The Game; console, PC; Q4 FY13.

All this news came as THQ reported heavy losses for the 2012 financial year, one that has proved incredibly tough for the US company. It’s ditched its kids license business, the uDraw Game Tablet project, and turned the Warhammer 40k MMO into a single-player game. THQ made a $239.9 million loss for the year off the back of $830.8 million in revenue.

Source: Eurogamer