Take-Two CEO: “THQ won’t be around in six months”
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes THQ is done for. Speaking at the MIT Business in Gaming conference today, Zelnick stated that the company won’t be up and running in six months time.
“THQ’s strategy was licensed properties, first and foremost. License stuff from other people, whether it’s UFC or WWE or a motion picture property, and make a game around that. And our approach, since we took over the company, is 100 percent owned intellectual property.
“The most important difference is quality. Take-Two has the highest quality ratings among third-party publishers, according to Metacritic and most people in the industry. Quality really, really, really matters. THQ has had some good game, but their quality levels aren’t even remotely … the quality hasn’t measured up.
“Strategy didn’t work and the execution was bad. To put it another way: the food was no good and the portions were small. THQ won’t be around in six months.”
It’s true that THQ has moved away from licensed products in recent years. However, Zelnick explained the shift to original IP can take quite awhile.
