The Outfit to get new maps

While THQ, like the rest of the gaming world, has its sights set squarely on the Electronic Entertainment Expo for the moment, the company mentioned some of its postshow plans in a quarterly earnings report conference call today. Specifically, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell talked about the recently released WWII shooter The Outfit, and how the company is going to use the game to test a relatively new aspect of its business model.

"We view downloadable content and microtransactions as a key component of our next-gen development efforts," Farrell said. "We'll start with downloadable maps for The Outfit later this month and plan to offer downloadable content for Saints Row as well."

A THQ representative told GameSpot the maps would likely come in a pack of three, and cost gamers 500 Marketplace points or less. And even though The Outfit was one of THQ's top-selling titles in the first quarter, Farrell cautioned that the limited installed user base of both the Xbox 360 and the game itself would limit its impact on the bottom line.

"We don't have great expectations for that title from a financial perspective," Farrell said. "The point we're trying to make here is we're trying to establish a leadership position in some of these new paradigms, and we think we can figure it out as fast if not faster than our competitors and start exploiting those opportunities. So there's a near-term, very small financial opportunity. But we think we're going to learn a lot about consumer behavior patterns, consumer preferences, and what works and what doesn't, and that's going to be an advantage as we move further into the generation."