THQ UK closure: an insider's perspective

By Robert Purchese Published 14 June, 2011

"We could have made something special."

THQ may have been working on a downloadable version of street racing game Juiced, Eurogamer has discovered.

An insider at THQ revealed that "the racing game I cannot mention" was the only project on the development slab.

What happens to that now THQ Digital Warrington has been marked for closure we don't know. The insider's gagging order suggests THQ may not bury the racing project.

Warrington's other new downloadable game, Warhammer 40K: Kill Team, "was finished last week and is in the submission stage", our source added.

"It's a good game and has been made from scratch in only 10 months, which is quite impressive."

"We've had several projects cancelled by THQ since Juiced 2."

THQ insider

Since Juiced 2 in 2007, THQ Digital Warrington has produced only one game - Red Faction: Battlegrounds, which scored a disappointing 5/10 on Eurogamer. But the sparse portfolio wasn't for want of trying.

"We've had several projects cancelled by THQ since Juiced 2," the insider revealed, "so we were struggling to find something they were happy with.

"It has been a good studio to work for and if we'd been allowed a bit more creative freedom, we could have followed Juiced 2 up with something special."

But even Battlegrounds wasn't left alone by THQ.

"It was a game that wasn't meant to be attached to the Red Faction brand originally, so we had to shoe-horn that in," the insider said. "That confused people a lot.

"With a team of only around eight people, [Red Faction: Battlegrounds] was never going to be great."

THQ insider

"It was a decent game, but with a team of only around eight people, it was never going to be great."

The source said Red Faction: Battlegrounds had, "last I heard", over 30,000 downloads, "which isn't bad at all".

The insider believes THQ shut the studio because digital sales were weak. "The market is getting quite saturated and it's harder to stand out now than it was when the likes of Trials HD came out," the source said. And as a dedicated digital content maker, THQ Digital Warrington had nowhere else to turn.

Redundancy packages are being sent out and "they seem very reasonable", our source explained. "THQ do a good job of looking after people on the way out."

The source expects "everything" to close once the 30-day administration phase comes to an end.

What happens next?

"Canada is an option and THQ will certainly help everyone find a new job," the source said.

Eurogamer wishes the very best of luck to all former THQ Digital Warrington employees.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FortysixterUK #1 11 months ago

    And another promising dev gets canned...sorry for the guys who lost their jobs.

  • DefendoCroc #2 11 months ago

    'Battlegrounds' was complete crap though, still losing your job sucks :(

  • HyperTails #3 11 months ago

    Good luck to you guys finding a new job.

    Seems devs are closing too frequently these days. Something's got to give (the Governments stubborness, hopefully).

  • jonbwfc #4 11 months ago

    Warrington's other new downloadable game, Warhammer 40K: Kill Team, "was finished last week and is in the submission stage", our source added.
    "It's a good game and has been made from scratch in only 10 months, which is quite impressive."

    Well that's everyone waiting for the reviews before ordering then, isn't it?

  • RobotRocker #5 11 months ago

    Seems devs are closing too frequently these days. Something's got to give (the Governments stubborness, hopefully).

    Fat chance of any Conservative government giving any creative industry a break. Especially the games industry as the Mail and Express would not shut up about murder simulators and brain rot (Yet wouldn't give two seconds thought when Nintendo pays for a wrap around cover advertisement of the next Professor Layton game).

  • scuffpuppies #6 11 months ago

    I think the "30,000" downloads had more to do with 'PS+' subscribers receiving it for free, rather than people buying because they actually wanted it.

    Always sad to hear of another dev' house closing down. So much for our Government supporting home grown businesses, and the tax breaks they promised during the election. No wonder publishers are closing the doors to certain 2nd party developers in the UK, and opening them back up again across the pond. Unfortunately without the guys and gals who'd just been royally fucked.

    Shame on you Mister Cameron.

  • Murton #7 11 months ago

    That's THQ pretty much forever condemned to stay in the number 4 slot in games publishers. They'll never catch EA/Acti/Ubi without multiple studios creating multiple IPs until they hit upon their golden ticket.

    Their only hope to break the top 3 now is for the next CoD to fall flat on its face and sink the glass bottomed boat that is Activision.

  • gruntboy #8 11 months ago

    Surprised EG is attributing so many comments to an inside source who could be in breach of their redunancy agreement by sharing such titbits. It might not take too much effort on THQ's part to identify the person, even if the comments do seem as if they could have been said by anyone from the team.

    In any case - onwards and upwards to all at the studio. Best of luck finding something new.

  • ToAks #9 11 months ago

    i just don't understand why such a great team as Juice once was could not land a good game out in 4 years, damn guys juiced 2 was the best racing game in 2007 IMO.

  • Soton4084 #10 11 months ago

    Shame to see another talented UK studio closed. Whilst I don't like the way the current Government renegaded on their election pledge for tax breaks, I do understand the justifications behind the decision. I don't agree with it, but understand why. At the end of the day it's all to easy to forget that the previous Labour Government did nothing in the way of implementing tax breaks during the years of economic prosperity that they were in power. Yet I don't hear anyone blaming them as well.
    Edited by Soton4084 at 14/06/11 @ 18:57

  • NewbieZilla #11 11 months ago

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLNft6cO0I4

  • Murton #12 11 months ago

    "Shame to see another talented UK studio closed. Whilst I don't like the way the current Government renegaded on their election pledge for tax breaks"

    Don't buy into TIGA's propaganda, there was no such pledge. Labour mentioned a plan to implement some sort of tax relief like a week before announcing the election knowing they could never implement it because there was no hope of them winning. Although the move had cross party support I think all knew that practically they could not possible implement such a programme during a time of austerity as any cut made would be seen as being caused by giving money away to a luxury industry. The Conservative Party promised a feasibility study at the very least and did this prior to the emergency budget while the Lib Dems advocate increasing the tax allowances on R&D spending throughout all digital industries, a policy I should add is in effect and applies to the Game Industry now where it previously did not, and let's not forget the Conservative Party driven decreases in both Employer's NI and Corporation Tax, something which the Games Industry is benefiting from.

    Fact is that tax breaks, including for the film and TV industry are poorly targeted and the country would be better served by a programme of state sponsorship (where the Government can recoup investment through a share of profits or shares in the company) than we ever could be through tax breaks. At least that way we're pretty much guaranteed a return on the investment unlike tax breaks which will almost certainly result in a loss for the treasury, both in terms of less tax received from the industry (TIGAs made up +200 million figures aren't recognised by any economist or analyst that has reviewed them) and less tax received from its employees when the industry continues the sickening behaviour of massive layoffs at the end of each and every project.

  • Xardan #13 11 months ago

    UK devs are dying fast. Competition from overseas is too much for them.

  • Gromit #14 11 months ago

    Juiced 2 : Hot Import Nights was abysmal. The downloadable Red Faction game was mediocre. If you were going to do "something special" you should have done. It seems like they just weren't up to the job, so it's no surprise they were shut down. No sympathy.

  • RobotRocker #15 11 months ago

    It seems like they just weren't up to the job, so it's no surprise they were shut down. No sympathy.

    "The videogames they made weren't up to MY high standards so therefore they deserve to lose their income and support for their families"

    Yep. Gamers. Still over-entitled, over privileged morons.

  • violet26 #16 11 months ago

    You forgot about Stormbirds, the other 'IP' that was cancelled by THQ half way through development. It was a great studio to work for, the in-studio management were faultless and very easy giving out free-reign to everyone to have their input into game design. It's a pity THQ aren't consistent in their own management of what they actually want to do. Roll on another bland wrestling game, etc.