Warhammer 40K: Space Marine ships 1.2 million

By Fred Dutton Published 2 November, 2011

But THQ posts hefty loss for past three months.

THQ's recent third person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine has shipped 1.2 million copies worldwide since its launch in September.

THQ CEO Brain Farrell made the announcement during an investor call earlier today, adding that sales of the game were "slightly ahead of our expectations".

It was the bright spot in another grim THQ quarterly financial report. Though net sales were up to $146.0 million, compared with $77.1 million last year, the company posted a net loss of $92.4 million, compared to a loss of $47.0 million 12 months ago.

"Our two biggest quarters of the year remain ahead of us, and we are focused on execution," commented Farrell.

"In Q3 we are planning for the largest quarter in our history, in terms of sales and earnings, driven by Saints Row: The Third, the uDraw GameTablet, and WWE '12. With UFC Undisputed 3 launching in the fourth quarter, we are well-positioned to deliver a strong second half of fiscal 2012."

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 7 months ago

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

  • Lemming81 #1 7 months ago

    the uDraw GameTablet seems like an utter waste of money given the circumstances.

  • WukWhiteWolf #2 7 months ago

    Saints Row 3 will sell millions for sure. uDraw GameTablet on the other hand...

  • Hindle #3 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • Der_tolle_Emil #4 7 months ago

    Maybe not a big hit per se but I guess they are doing ok, if only for the Warhammer IP. They know how to handle it though, Space Marine might not be the best game ever but it is solid (as this article points out) and Dawn of War isn't doing bad either I guess.

  • Zaxlor #5 7 months ago

    How the hell do companys ever keep going, if they're always posting massive monetary losses? I'm probably just being thick, but if you've made a loss of 92 million quid, wouldn't that mean you're bust?

    If you've not got the money to pay the people working for you, then how can you keep making games? Or are they all on salary, or paid up front before the project starts?

  • epiazk #6 7 months ago

    @Zaxlor : Nah, not thick, they tend to use credit lines or existing equity (cash) to pay staff etc in the interim. When they have an absolute fortune stockpiled up they tend (OR SHOULD) to pay the owners of the company a percentage of profits based on how many shares they own (stocks).

    92 million isn't that bad if they have a secure credit line and a few blockbusters planned. Things get bad when they have no projects on the go and no cash in the bank.

    I quite like THQ, they keep doing mad projects that most others would forsake (judge dredd). Also, the 40k games have been great, even space marine was fun (though they could have fleshed out the development aspects of the chars). Initially I think that was the intention (cba to find source), but for whatever reason they abandoned it, rock on the sequel/expansion, and hoping they take some risks with it! :)

  • epiazk #7 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:42 12-12-2011

  • Zaxlor #8 7 months ago

    @epiazk Ah, i think i get it now. Even if your last game bombed, so long as you've got 2-3 that you can covince the bank WILL make money, they'll keep giving you the cash.

    Like you said, no-wonder high risk, imaginative games don't get made very often with the prospect of your whole company tanking because you can't make hit after hit :(

  • epiazk #9 7 months ago

    @Zaxlor I guess!

    But hey, on the bright side they have GTA 5. So quite frankly they could decide to make nothing but games about murdering bunnies and still be around posting things like this to confused investors next year.

  • neems #10 7 months ago

    Sales have doubled in value, but so have their losses? Something wrong there, are THQ making a loss per unit?

  • DisneyJon #11 7 months ago

    Space marine would have done even better if they had brought it out on time, should have been last xmas! Instead they released weeks before gears 3, then ditched stock via distributors which has led to most places now selling sub 20 quid.

    Saints row and wwe will do fine and udraw wont sell tons but its high margin and low development costs.

  • killuminati2911 #12 7 months ago

    They got lots of interesting IP. I just geuss that their biggest problem is a financial management aware of what to do and where to put/invest money.
    Guess other companies with wath they've got, would do better in terms of earnings and sure of average quality of products (not saing their quality is low but sometimes is "ups and downs" like in 40k). Just my 2 cents.

  • repeater #13 7 months ago

    "Though net sales were up to $146.0 million, compared with $77.1 million last year, the company posted a net loss of $92.4 million, compared to a loss of $47.0 million 12 months ago.
    '[...] we are focused on execution,' commented Farrell."

    Well you should be, heads will roll by the sound of it!

  • Spunkweazle #14 7 months ago

    I am sure "Brain" Farrell will be pleased that you managed to spell THQ and CEO

  • BillPoon #15 7 months ago

    Enjoyed Space Marine and looking forward to Darksiders 2. Felt Homefront was very poor, but you can't have everything.

  • evild_edd #16 7 months ago

    @Zaxlor & Epiazk:

    You should also bear in mind that there are financial benefits in understating profits. By claiming a loss you can get tax breaks (rebates) etc - accountants have all sorts of weird and wonderful (though admittedly still legal) ways of manipulating figures so that they can pay as little tax as possible, and keep paying those dividends.

  • JayKwon #17 7 months ago

    Metro 2034, Darksiders 2 and Saints Row 3. All games looking great fun imo.

  • Murton #18 7 months ago

    @Zaxlor

    Also worth noting that losses in the games industry are never clear cut. Saints Row and WWE are both out this month in THQ's Q3, their development, marketing, certification and manufacturing costs will all be on this quarterly report, Q2, along with R&D for new games and the next generation, inflating the loss figure while there's only really Space Marine to produce revenue, so a loss is to be expected really.

    Next quarter we'll see things reversed as those two games release and the marketing guys look forward to a quieter Feb-Apr.

    It's a standard business cycle in any industry. You bring forward or delay spending to manipulate your profit/loss to satisfy your investors.

  • CamberGreber #19 7 months ago

    So Why are they Cancelling the Sequeal then. Just last month Eurogamer had a Report that said the game wasn't meeting exspectations it wasn't makeing any money.

    WTF?