IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

THQ Aiming For Core Games Metacritic Above 85

Posted June 30, 2010 by James Brightman

At this year's E3 we had the opportunity to once again sit down with Danny Bilson, THQ Core Games VP. Bilson is never afraid to speak his mind and the discussion was certainly interesting. We went over his feelings on 3D gaming and motion controls, the 3DS, THQ growth plans and transmedia strategy, and competing with juggernauts like Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts. The full Q&A is below.

IndustryGamers: This has been a very exciting E3 with the motion control stuff, Microsoft Kinect and PlayStation Move, and Sony’s pushing 3D gaming and, you know, you’ve got the 3DS. So what is your overall view of all the new technologies and how it’s growing the industry?

Danny Bilson: Well, all the technology’s really exciting; we just have to see how the consumer responds to all of it. We’re there on all the platforms, I would say, in a conservative way. We just want to see how they go. Now remember, I do the core games. There’s a lot more application in the kids and family for those technologies. So in core, I only have one property on the motion systems, which is the UFC Trainer, which I don’t have here at the show, yet. We’re going to show that soon, because we wanted it to be the best exercise game in the world and we’re still tuning those new platforms around it. So when we show it, I kind of want people to say, “wow” on that one. Because it involves body motion, really fast, it’s still in tuning. Really excited about that one, but here at THQ, we’re really looking to see where the consumer goes with [these technologies]. I know on the kids’ side there’s a bunch of stuff in the motion stuff because it’s more of a family oriented technology.

In 3D, we have two things in 3D, and they're both on the core side: we have Metro 2034 in a couple of years, but Metro 2033, which shipped in February, is running downstairs in 3D because Nvidia shows it as sort of the best 3D game for the platform, and it looks amazing. The team now is converting and working; we’ll have a custom 3D game on the console on the next one, and then de Blob is going to be in HD 3D on PS3 and 360, and the Wii version is 2D. We’re excited about that as, again, it’s going to be the first real core family game out of my group that goes to the PS3 and Xbox. I think it’s the right time in the cycle to do it, a great platformer that already has a bit of a legacy, so it’s kind of known. And then to bring de Blob to 3D with all the paint, and the splattering, and the colors flying at you we think could be a lot of fun.

IG: Do you think 3D gaming in general is going to be the next big thing? I sort of have a mixed viewpoint on it myself, because just from what I’ve seen it looks cool but something about it just looks a little off. At times, it gets a little blurry or the clarity’s not there...

DB: Well, my personal opinion is that 3D is a really cool feature for some things. I don’t see the whole world going 3D on everything. And this is really personal: if I’m watching a movie in 3D, it’s 3D for about the first ten minutes and then it’s all about the content, unless they do a three stooges and poke their fingers at you through the screen and then you go, “oh, wow.” So honestly, content is so much more important than the 3D or 2D delivery; I think it really trumps it. We, as a company, want to be there with our partners as they push it forward, but I’ll say it again, we’re going to respond to what works for the consumer. You’re not going to see us turning every game into 3D. It really also depends on the experience, what experience it's best for. The two I mentioned were really selected specifically because we thought they’d play really well in 3D and also it would be very low cost to convert to 3D.

IG: In terms of the motion technologies, were you surprised that we were not given any kind of pricing on the Kinect from Microsoft?

DB: I think, this late, it’s a little surprising. But I really can’t say, because all I know is what everybody else knows, is that GameStop had it at $149. Everyone goes, “wow, that’s expensive.” I don’t know anything about the pricing. All I know about Microsoft is they’re really smart guys run by a really smart guy, and I think they’ll find the right price point and the right way to make that work.

IG: Are you at all concerned as a third party publisher about the installed bases of PlayStation Move and Kinect?

DB: Absolutely. We just follow the install base. We’re just going to follow the install base, and if it goes crazy it’s very easy for us to be right there. We’ve got 1200 developers at THQ, really smart guys. We already are there, so like I said, we’ve got UFC Trainer on all of those, and on the kids’ side I think there’s three or four properties that are on those motion systems, so we really are going to follow the installed base.

IG: There was a press release from THQ recently which said the outlook was reduced because of slightly disappointing sales on UFC. Can you elaborate on what happened there? Did it not live up to your expectations? 

DB: Well, what happened there is pretty simple. Over the last two years, we did a lot of restructuring, reorganizing, cost reduction and we canceled a lot of projects that we needed to cancel. But that left us a hole in the pipeline this year. And this is a year where we just overloaded expectations on UFC based on how well it did last year to make our numbers work for the year, but knowing full well that starting on January 1, and I’m just talking about core... we’ve got a pipeline flow for two years that’s extraordinary and you’re seeing it all over this booth. And we start dropping blockbusters at a couple a quarter and I think our life changes, because by the end of those two years it ends with the 40k MMO. And that game should change the financial state of THQ, because it’s so good. And now back to UFC: the game’s still going to be one of the top games of the year. It was us going into the first round in the ring and going, “we’re the biggest dog in town,” and taking one on the chin. We’ve already sold through 800,000 units in three weeks; that is not bad. It’s just our expectations were extraordinary. However, we also still have a lot of marketing left to do; it’s an annual sport that goes all year long, our great partners at UFC continue to promote the game. We have a new television campaign and new accolades campaign that comes live any time and we’ve actually got a new campaign that goes really hard between now and the release of Madden. So, no, we’re not giving up on one of our best brands and one of our highest rated games of all time, no way, and on one of the most popular sports in America, no way.

IG: Do you have any opinion on what EA is doing with MMA? I spoke with Peter Moore earlier today. Of course, at the EA press conference they were promoting their MMA stuff a little bit. 

DB: I don’t know why. (Laughter)

I mean, you’ve seen other sports try to do it without the league; it hasn’t worked. We’ve all looked at their code; I think ours is extremely competitive compared to theirs. Now, I come from that company; I have a lot of respect for those guys, a lot of friends there, so I don’t want to say too much more about that MMA game. (laughter)

IG: Right that’s fine. So, I know you’ve talked about, when I spoke to you last time, about the “new THQ,” and how it’s your responsibility to really ensure the quality of every game, especially the core games. How far along that process is THQ now on that growth path?

DB: Well, if you look at our Metacritic scores in the last year, they are averaging about 82. We didn’t have a game in core below 80 average in the Metacritic, so that was a mission accomplished, but, you know, being above 80 is one thing; we’ve got to be above 85, because we’re competing against the toughest, smartest, best game makers in the world. There’s no room anymore for, “we’re going to make a lot of money in second place.” So what I think you see in this booth is what I talked to you about a year and a half ago. This is the new THQ. How far are we along? 50%. Because what we need to do is have these games start to work, start to fill our coffers with more money, so that then we can expand sort of our plan and our strategy. But the other thing you’re seeing, and since I’ve talked to you and this is something that’s going really well and I’m really excited about, is we’re acquiring talent. We’re not acquiring expensive studios. We’re acquiring the key developers who made some great games happen. So we’re already showing here Itagaki-san’s new game, Devil’s Third, and he’s been making games for 20 years. He’s a veteran; those guys are professional. They’re fantastic to work with. No acquisition involved at all; just a great, healthy partnership. You’re about to see in the next couple of months we’ll be announcing two more sort of jaw-dropping talent...

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.