经济危机迫使THQ关闭5家工作室

光之国

　　

　　昨天晚些时候，有消息说北美第三大规模的游戏发行商THQ迫于经济不景气和财政困难等一系列问题，不得不关闭旗下的4到5个工作室以解燃眉之急。

　　目前，THQ在北美、欧洲和澳洲分别设有16家工作室，这样的消息一旦被证实，其后果无疑将是爆炸性的。有些人相信这可能仅仅是THQ在圣诞假期前夕让没有新项目的工作室暂时停工以控制成本，但也有专家将其看作是经济危机袭击游戏业的又一个信号。

　　今天早上，更多来自THQ内部的消息透露，工作室关闭确有其事（5家公司的官方网站均已关闭），这5家工作室分别是：

　　Paradigm（代表作有《特技人》、《终结者》）、Helixe（主要为任天堂掌机开发游戏）、Locomotive（代表作有《MX越野》和《毁灭全人类》）、Sandblast Games（《赤色派系》）、Mass Media（《全能战士》）。另外Juice Games工作室（代表作是《极品醉车》系列）40多名员工中有30人离开。

　　随后，一封据称是THQ首席执行官Brian Farrell发送给公司在职员工的邮件（下一页有原文），解释了此次大规模结构调整和人事变动的更多细节。邮件中将市场推动力的持续减弱和突如其来的经济危机导致许多开发项目的下马，归结为工作室被迫关闭的主要原因。

　　目前，THQ官方尚未对外证实消息的准确性，但相信本周末出炉的新一轮季度财政报告应该会使一切水落石出。

　　Good afternoon team,

　　I want to take this opportunity to update you all on some important actions we are taking to best position THQ for future profitability and growth.

　　As you know, the past year has been a challenging one for THQ, and the video game industry is changing rapidly. We are responding aggressively to both changing market dynamics within the video game sector and the impact of today's difficult economic environment. Over the past several weeks, we have completed a new strategic plan for THQ and presented it to our board of directors. The plan was initiated by me and developed by the executive committee in close collaboration with senior members of our product development and publishing organizations.

　　The new plan will result in substantial changes to our product strategy and pipeline. Our goal is to ensure that we have the right resources behind the products and product categories that represent the biggest opportunities for THQ.

　　As a result of this new plan, we have discontinued a number of projects from external developers, as well as certain projects within our internal THQ studios. In a number of cases, the cancellation of a project means that the THQ studio working on that project will be closed. Specifically, we have closed Helixe, Sandblast Games, Locomotive, Mass Media and Paradigm studios. We have also reduced staffing at Juice Games and Rainbow Studios as a result of our product realignment. Our senior PD and HR teams are on the ground at each of the affected studios today, meeting with the employees to discuss severance packages and outplacement services, as well as potential opportunities on other THQ products.

　　While the actions we are taking are difficult, we believe they are a necessary step toward returning THQ to profitability. We are confident that the product pipeline we have outlined in our strategic plan positions us to win in the video game marketplace. We also remain very confident in our internal development capabilities, as evidenced by the strong critical and commercial success of Saints Row 2 and de Blob.

　　I encourage each of you to listen to our Q2 FY 2009 earnings call this Wednesday as I take investors through both the trends that are affecting our business and the manner in which we are realigning our business to best compete.

　　I thank you for your continued focus during this challenging time, and I look forward to sharing more details about our strategic plan with you in the near future.

　　Brian

来源:levelup.cn