Ben-DutkaWhen Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo and founded Valhalla Games, he opted to go with Western publisher THQ.
The team has been working on Devil's Third , a hot action game with lots of bullets and attitude (the attitude part is common to Itagaki), and initially, it seemed that THQ's expectations were high. Ours were, too.
But the publisher has ran into trouble this year and now, according to an investor conference call , THQ CEO Brian Farrell made it clear that they're now looking to unload Valhalla's debut effort.
"The profitability of Devil's Third was not competitive with our other releases."
A few things have contributed to this turnaround- First on the list is the fact that the third-party company Valhalla had tapped to create the game engine went out of business. Second, given the strengthening value of the yen against the dollar, THQ has been forced to reevaluate its "profitability profile." Obviously, all this means you probably won't be seeing Devil's Third on store shelves for quite a long time.
The question is, who might want to pick up the project? EA published its first Japanese-developed title last year ( Shadows of the Damned ), but that didn't sell particularly well…
Oh no! Bad news I'm always looking up for an Itagaki game. I hope they find a way to release it soon. It was looking good to me.
Maybe SE will get it like when HK True Crime was cancelled. Perhaps Capcom….
I hope it wont be delayed too long
That's a shame, at least we know why it has been collecting dust. THQ has profitability problems everywhere except maybe Saints Row.
I hope not. This was the only thing from them that I'm interested in.
Too bad. We'll see how this plays out though. Nothing is set yet.
Dangnammit.
I was interested in this game..
Last edited by Clamedeus on 5/15/2012 11:29:59 PM
Was looking forward to the game. Hope someone picks it up soon. Now all I have to look forward to from THQ is Darksiders 2.
Wasn't THQ also partnering with Guillermo Del Toro for InSane? That was being done internally at Volition, but I'm guessing that it'll be curtains for that as well. Can't have anything original when a number after the title will double the sales!
Darksiders may get my money, not until it's going for a song though, and the only other title on their release slate that I have the slightest interest in is Metro: Last Light (although as an FPS I'm ever more leery of it). I would have picked up Devil's Third, I think and InSANE most certainly.
Oh yeah Metro could be cool, poor Del Toro, I was so sad when they cancelled At The Mountains of Madness.
sadly yes theres been allot of rumours that inSANE has been canned.
figures, the one developer who has the balls to give us a survival horror game and it gets canned!
ive said it once, twice, a million times and ill say it again.
the gaming industry has NO justice!
the crap gets sequels yearly, and the gold, the rare purity originality gets canned.
🙁
oh what a crock of sh*t!
THQ cancels 2 of the only games that would of sold big for them!
they release a sequel to the mediocre homefront, a game which was crap and will have SOOOOOOOO much competition!
and will sell 300000 units if its lucky!
in favour of devils third made by one of the industries most beloved developers, and in a very quiet genre.
i mean how many sword and gun play games are there?
last one i can remember was wet, what, 5 years ago!?
not counting neverdead because that was pretty mediocre.
and inSANE that would of done really well because of the rabid fans who are clamouring for a proper survival horror game!
a genre which was last touched, what, 10+ years ago!?
IF this is true what THQ have done is take their 2 best games, the 2 that have the highest potential to sell well, and cancel them!
hey no i wont bet on the brand new ferrari to win the race, ill bet on the 60 year old volkswagen beetle!
christ, no wonder there going bankrupt!
they can devils third and inSANE, but yet every year turn out a crappy WWE or MMA game which really have never been big sales for them.
maybe they should stop wasting their money on licensing for that crap and focus on you know, proper games!
not fake sh*t!
Now it's also looking a little bleaker for their upcoming South Park RPG too as it's now been pushed into 2013 with no reason why from THQ.
So the longer the wait, the more chance that THQ will also cancel that game too…..
South Park: The Game delayed to 2013
South Park: The Game will not ship this fall as was previously announced. THQ today announced that the Obsidian Entertainment-developed role-playing game has slid to a release date of sometime during the first three months of 2013.
The publisher did not provide a reason for the delay, and as of press time, the company had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
You can read the entire article here:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/south-park-the-game-delayed-to-2013-6376812