THQ Cancels WH40K MMO

[Serio]

Originally Posted by Bit-Tech

THQ has announced that is to lay off 118 employees across two of its studios as it struggles to find a profitable balance between hardcore and casual gaming franchises.

The job losses, which are made up of 39 staff from Relic Entertainment in Vancouver and 79 at Vigial Games in Texas, come with an added blow for THQ's fans: news that the upcoming Warhammer 40K-based massively multiplayer title is no longer going ahead.

Source

I'm not sure what to make of it. Seeing more lay offs, especially under a publisher like THQ, is never a good thing. The WH40K MMO was announced back in February 2010, so I assume it might have been close to completion by now(given the average 3 year development cycle for games). However;

As previously announced, we have been actively looking for a business partner for the game as an MMO,' THQ chief executive Brian Farrel explained in a statement to press. 'However, based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features.'

Could hint that they're going to scrap the original concept, but turn it into a singleplayer RPG instead. Seems to be similar to what happened to Kingdoms of Amalur, and, from what I heard, that turned out to be quite a good direction for the game.

[FileTrekker]

Sad to see more layoffs, wonder what will be next? :/

[Nittany Tiger]

If THQ ditches online passes, I might have sympathy for them.