News

THQ gives vote of no confidence on Red Faction franchise
Posted: 28.07.2011 04:20 by JonahFalcon Comments: 3
THQ has given the Red Faction franchise a virtual vote of no confidence, as the company has expressed less confidence in the moneymaking aspect of the series, which began over a decade ago.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell during an investors call called the IP a “niche” game, and that consequently it is no longer worth pursuing and stated, “Given that that title, now in two successive versions, has just found a niche, we do not intend to carry forward with that franchise in any meaningful way."

The issue was that it didn't attract "a sufficiently broad console gaming audience" and it only had a "passionate niche following."

“In today’s hit-driven, core gaming business, even highly-polished titles with a reasonable following like Red Faction face a bar that continues to move higher and higher,” he said. “Moving forward, our core game titles must meet a very high quality standard with strong creative and product differentiation, appeal to a broad audience, and be marketed aggressively.”

In other words, THQ wants the blockbuster hit and not the game with a small, devoted fanbase - which makes it curious why it's so attracted to Warhammer 40,000, which is exactly what its fanbase is.

Comments

By djole381 (SI Elite) on Jul 28, 2011
djole381
Such a shame. Red Faction has a great potential. Guerilla was great but a bit repetitive and Armageddon was good to (especially that nano forge reconstruction thingy) but they both lacked that something something that would have made them epic.
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Jul 28, 2011
Xyfer117
Nooo... ive liked red faction since the first game, haven't played armageddon yet but i plan on doing... I was actually hoping for them to eventually do a HD remake of the original red faction.
By Knave (SI Core) on Jul 28, 2011
Knave
I really like Guerilla. Agree that it was a little on the repetitive side. The multiplayer modes (even if they were pretty much tacked on) were a lot of fun with a few friends just going around and smashing buildings.

That being said I didn't have much interest in Armageddon.

They should probably let this series sit for a few years and then try again.