THQ whacks 360 Sopranos

For a while, it looked as though Electronic Arts' adaptation of The Godfather would be the sole mob-themed game to hit next-gen consoles this fall. That changed around the time of E3 in May, when THQ announced it would release an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 game based on the hit HBO crime drama The Sopranos in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Today, THQ revealed that it has told the developer of the Xbox 360 Sopranos to fuggedaboutit. During a conference call with analysts following its most recent earnings report, THQ chief financial officer Edward K. Zinser discussed the company's amortization for its first financial quarter, which ended on June 30.

"Amortization of 18 percent was up three points versus the prior year quarter," Zinser told analysts. "This is primarily due to our decision to discontinue development of the Sopranos for Xbox 360. There is no change to our plans to replace it, [but] we will release it on PS2 [during] the holiday [season]." THQ reps later confirmed to GameSpot that the game was "on track" for a fourth-quarter release.

The Sopranos game is being developed by 7 Studios, which also made the game adaptation of the Fantastic 4 movie and the just-released Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow, another film tie-in.