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Additional layoffs strike THQ

Organizational shift leads to second round of layoffs in as many months at California-based publisher; five internal studios unaffected.

The effects of THQ's decision to stop making children's games are already being felt. THQ has confirmed layoffs in the publisher's administration and publishing departments as a result of the company's new direction.

Reorganization at THQ has led to a dip in headcount.

Reorganization at THQ has led to a dip in headcount.

"THQ confirms a reduction in force to the company's administration and publishing organization," reads a statement provided to GameSpot. "As recently announced, the company is exiting the kids' licensed games category, and is focusing on its core game franchises and developing its digital initiatives."

THQ did not say how many staffers were let go in the action.

THQ's five internal studios--Vigil, Volition, Relic, THQ San Diego, and THQ Montreal--were not affected by the layoffs. Further information regarding THQ's new direction will be provided at the company's third-quarter 2012 conference call on February 2.

This round of layoffs at THQ comes just one month after the publisher let 30 go from its Play label, the development unit behind the underperforming uDraw tablet peripheral.

41 Comments

  • 00J

    Posted Feb 5, 2012 5:05 pm GMT

    kkxtrouble, what do you care anyway? That's a naive point of view to take feeling sorry for game company employees getting laid off, just being able to work that job for a year is pleasure enough... They get to do what they've always wanted to do AND get paid to do it... For what they are paid they aren't hurting or starving either, they can walk away and take up to a year trying to get on with another companies project and not even scratch their monetary security, trust me i know for a fact.

  • 00J

    Posted Feb 5, 2012 5:01 pm GMT

    kkxtrouble, me get fired hah! I'd welcome that if i were working for THQ, sometimes that's what you need to get out and start your own company... Programmers are the most secure job hunters in the world, if they get laid off, there are 1 million other jobs waiting...

  • Void_Kross

    Posted Jan 30, 2012 3:03 pm GMT

    @kkxtrouble
    It's called sarcasm, and if they are in financial trouble, then maybe what they are doing with the firing of employees, along with moving away from kids' gaming, they will earn more money, and spend less on the other games that weren't so popular.

  • Asad-M

    Posted Jan 30, 2012 10:58 am GMT

    THQ should add product value of their most powerfull franchises.while DOW offers a great gameplay, Artistically is'nt comparable by Starcraft.THQ's games ar'nt top products considering art design,naration,music,story telling,pre-rendered cinematics and any other "Cinematic" aspects of them. Space Marine is an obviuse example for this problem.their game ar'nt "Top 10", and therefor there is no big "Fan Base" for them, even for DOW & WWE.and that's the problemI hope THQ improve these cool game's product value & quality, because there is a lot of potential for TOP TEN games there.I hope so.

  • kex72

    Posted Jan 30, 2012 5:59 am GMT

    Great, there goes my job!

  • warhawk-geeby

    Posted Jan 30, 2012 5:00 am GMT

    I have a weird feeling THQ is going under...

  • kkxtrouble

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 7:38 pm GMT

    @singhellotaku
    Well they make way too many games a year, most of them are not so succsessful, or they just fail to make a profit, games nowdays are expenall sive to make. Thats why they are laying soo many people off, stopping projects, and backing away from kids games ( most likely they are the reason they are in this mess.)

  • kkxtrouble

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 7:30 pm GMT

    @Void_Kross
    They might be connected.
    But, believe me they are in deep, deep financial trouble.

  • dicegamer

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 6:06 pm GMT

    i glad i don't play there games none of there i think is not worth playing or buying

  • Void_Kross

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 5:17 pm GMT

    THQ is trying to move away from the kids' games business, and they layoff employees. Is it possible that they aren't in financial trouble, but in fact that those two announcements are connected? I didn't read anything in either article about any kind or form of "financial problems."

  • munkeypoo45

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 9:53 am GMT

    @Drkill09

    i think gamespot meant "strike" as in to "affect" THQ. but im not fully sure.

  • sulaymanqazi

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 9:03 am GMT

    in a tough like this, i feel like mobile gaming can make them sucessful

  • singhellotaku

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 7:59 am GMT

    For a company thats going under, I seem to own a heck of a lot of thq games. Where did that money go? Didn't Saints Row 3 sell way better than expected? Haven't their various Warhammer 40000 games sold a billion copies?

  • DrKill09

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 7:43 am GMT

    Layoffs and a strike are two different things, Gamespot.

  • Archontic

    Posted Jan 29, 2012 4:38 am GMT

    Metro Last Light and Darksiders 2 are their last chances of getting out of this.

  • Ni6htSorrow

    Posted Jan 28, 2012 6:35 pm GMT

    Seems like THQ is about to go under. Pretty sad news, especially to the ones affected.

  • kkxtrouble

    Posted Jan 28, 2012 9:33 am GMT

    @00J
    How evil are you?
    The big shyeesots canceled that game, the ones that are paying are the empoyees. When you get fired, don't you go complaining, it will serve you right.

  • Nathalmighty1

    Posted Jan 28, 2012 2:29 am GMT

    This is indeed sad news, our thoughts go to the families affected by this.

  • SLjimbolian

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 6:59 pm GMT

    Hmmm...looks eerily similar to right before Midway went dead.

  • 00J posted Jan 27, 2012 6:33 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    00J

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 6:33 pm GMT (hide)

    Close the doors mismanagement is the cause. They are idiots for cancelling the Avengers game. Serves them right for their stupidity!

  • electroflame

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 6:19 pm GMT

    So THQ cancels almost all of their line-up, decides to move away from children's games (where they got most of their money) and now they are liquidating their staff?

    And their stock prices have fallen from around $6 a share from 1 year ago, to about $0.68 a share now? Not to mention the amount of debt they have accumulated?

    They're toast. Goodbye THQ.

  • megakick

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 6:03 pm GMT

    If consumers didn't buy used they might still have jobs...
    THQ didn't need them so they sold them and when THQ does, they will buy them back for half the cost Think of the savings

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 5:35 pm GMT

    That said, some of you may want to look at THQ's last annual financial report for fiscal year 2011 (ended March 2011).

    The first quarter for fiscal year 2012 (ended June 2011) doesn't look good either - THQ is still registering losses and stock-tanking.

    It's not healthy, if you would look at the numbers.

    (And especially only the numbers; I normally would not be saying that one should look at only the numbers, but the text is a lot of excuses for THQ's bad commercial performance - one of them being "seasonality". I didn't even know that this word exists.)

  • Gelugon_baat

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 5:08 pm GMT

    Now, normally I wouldn't like news about someone losing his/her job in the games industry, but I don't see much news about non-production/development staff getting laid-off, i.e. it's usually the ones actually working on the products that get dismissed, not the secondary jobbers.

    So I would say here that I find this news very refreshing in a macabre way - do pardon the minor schadenfreude.

    (But really though, who wouldn't see this coming? Once the product lines get axed, the administrators and support staffers for these would get axed too, sooner or later.)

  • msfan1289

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 5:07 pm GMT

    hey THQ workers that got laid off, PM me im a small indie company but with you skills we can make games and publish them on our own and you will make more money then you made back in THQ

  • The_Gaming_Baby

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 4:40 pm GMT

    Layoffs?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saC13RJ8CUs

  • vforvitiello

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 4:20 pm GMT

    too bad corey ledesma wasnt fired

  • SolidTy

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 3:10 pm GMT


    Bummer, they were hit before, but THQ is getting hit again by another round of layoffs. I guess this was inevitable when we found out they were leaving the Kids Games market.

    I hope those fired find new jobs soon, but I understand THQ has to do what THQ has to do to survive as a company.

  • Cwagmire21

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 2:38 pm GMT

    It's unfortunate that THQ facing hardships especially since I feel like they've published some quality games over the past couple years.Hope they can turn it around.

  • Ronnie_Rim

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 2:23 pm GMT

    Cmon, not Relic!

  • lordtoast

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 2:16 pm GMT

    I know someone personally who works for THQ and I can say that they let go 40% of their work force within various studios, not just publisher's administration and publishing departments, but the entire company. Some regions many not have been affected, but they are downsizing extremely fast. Managers who fired employees were then fired themselves. THQ has stopped ALL development on any future projects, not just childrens games. My friend is really worried about their job right now, and likely this means the end for THQ unless something dramatic happens (ie buyout by another company = unlikely)

  • pszone

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 2:15 pm GMT

    Well since thq going the wrong way like this week they going back to kids games what doen't work that layoffs in thq well not going to be a gd year darksiders 2 not going to sell , UFC3 will sell , But Brave kids game wont sell. THQ Back your ideas up

  • nastyhotpocket

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 1:47 pm GMT

    dear thq please fire Marcus "The Hammer" Stephenson

  • SauhlGood

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 1:34 pm GMT

    @ml_paladin888

    right on!

  • ml_paladin888

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 1:09 pm GMT

    @SauhlGood
    It says right in the article that Vigil was not affected; so Dark Millennium should not have been affected

  • blackace

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 12:57 pm GMT

    That UDraw tablet was a waste of money for TH-Q. Didn't Nintendo have something similar to that for the Wii and it failed miserably? We don't want any drawing tablets or apps on our game console. That's kiddie stuff and should be used in art classrooms around the world. You're not going to sell millions of those. Just like Wii Music. Not everyone is interested in making music on their game console. I'm glad they are leaving the kiddie market. Now please fix the WWE 12 game.

  • Soothsayer42

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 12:51 pm GMT

    Too bad... but its for the best. Maybe they're dropping those low quality producers?

  • SauhlGood

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 12:39 pm GMT

    hope the warhammer mmorpg didnt get shafted...

  • DarthLod posted Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    DarthLod

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 12:36 pm GMT (hide)

    Like I care? That's life.

  • Syphon_Filter2

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 12:19 pm GMT

    Hope they will do better later

  • chappy_man

    Posted Jan 27, 2012 11:53 am GMT

    Well that sucks, but hopefully this move helps THQ I would love to see more Warhammer based games!

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