THQ financial briefing brings news about Darksiders 2, South Park, Devil’s Third, and it’s financial loss

Ex-Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki’s first project is looking like it’s in trouble as reports suggest from THQ’s financial briefing call to it’s investors today.  THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said Devils’ Third “The profitability profile for Devil’s Third no longer met our internal threshold and we are currently in discussions with third parties regarding the future of this title.”

The game, originally announced in summer of 2010, had several problems during it’s creation. Farrell stated “There were a couple of unforeseen events that happened during the development of Devil’s Third. One was the company that Valhalla was using for the engine went out of business, so we had to assist Itagaki and the team with a new engine – it took a fair amount of time and cost a fair amount of money.” While no more money will be flowing from THQ in this process, it doesn’t mean that they don’t want to see it go to waste, “We think it’s an excellent franchise; we’ve really enjoyed working with Itagaki-san, and we’re going to explore other opportunities with him and others to make sure this product comes to market.”

While this doesn’t come as much of a surprise giving that THQ had has issues throughout the year, with the cancellation of a big franchise for them (Red Faction) as well as under preforming sales of other games and assessories like the UDraw tablet, THQ has netted a $239.9 million dollar lost of revenue for last year’s fiscal year, ending March 31 2012, a $100 million more than previous year.

Despite the success of Saints Row: The Third, and WWE 12, the company had to cut 240 employees, cut the salary of some of their head honchos, and cut out the kid-friendly section of the company altogether. Luckily, the company will stay afloat this year, delaying with hopes of profit from the upcoming expansion pack for Saints Row The Third, Darksiders 2, the yet to be confirmed WWE13, and South Park. Which brings us to some good news.

The originally delayed Darksiders 2 is back on track with a Augest 14 release date, the delay was described at the briefing for a better retail window. This is good as pre-orders for the second game in the series is up 5 times more than the original, and with an marketing budget to help show off the game, THQ is looking to get right back on top.

As per the previously mentioned lay-offs, THQ Published South Park RPG has been pushed back again, this time to early 2013. Obsidian was previously hit with lay-offs which featured many members of that team.