In an investor call for fiscal first-quarter 2013, THQ president Jason Rubin announced that the publisher is ceasing all “experimentation” with Facebook and casual mobile games.
This is in line with the company’s new direction, which values quality big-budget releases. On that front, Rubin announced that in addition to previously announced titles, all four internal THQ developers — Relic Entertainment, Volition, Vigil Games, and THQ Studio Montreal — have started work on new games. Rubin made it clear that the studios are developing these titles under the new marching orders to create works of the highest quality.
Relic Entertainment is the team responsible for the critically acclaimed Company of Heroes real-time-strategy games. Volition recently released the popular Saints Row: The Third and is now working on Saints Row: Enter the Dominatrix, which Rubin referred to as Saints Row 4. Austin-based Vigil Games just finished work on Darksiders II, which is hitting store shelves on August 14. THQ Studio Montreal, which was previously overseeing the followup to Homefront (that’s been moved to an external developer), is also working on something new.
Rubin and chief executive officer Brian Farrell didn’t provide specifics on any of the titles, and it’s likely we won’t see anything from this announcement until at least some time in calendar 2013.