THQ is a company that has been out for some time. They have released many great games, such as the Red Faction series, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, UFC Undisputed, and most recently, Saints Row the Third. They have had their share of flops, but then, what good game publisher doesn't?  However, most recently we have heard that THQ is having deep problems, to the point of laying off employees.

 

 

 

The big question: how did this happen? How did the company responsible for so many great games end up going down so fast? Given, they are not bankrupt yet nor out of business, but if you remember interplay, game companies can put out great games and still go belly-up.  (For anyone who does not remember Interplay, they put out Baldur's Gate, the first Fallout games, as well as others.)

 

The big reason THQ claims is this Item:

 

 

Oh yeah! A program that lets you do what...oh, what MSPaint let you do. Seriously, who woudn't rather be doing this than playing say...God of War. According to Kokatu, the company lost around $100 million over this investment. Now there are warehouses full of these peripherals that nobody wants. 

 

Of course that may not be the whole story. According to an employee, the CEO of THQ, Brian Farrell, along with the executive committe bet everything on the Udraw and had no contingency plan, especially since it had been out for over a year and had little software support. In that time THQ stock went from $30 a share down 70 cents. Also, this was only one of several failures, most of which were covered up.

 

And to top it all off? Take a look at the compensation packages according to Morningstar:

 

CEO/Chairman Brain Farrell---1,289,558

VP/CFO Paul Pucino---674,855

VP Martin Good---1,198,023

VP Ian Curran--1,037,047

VP Danny Bilson---729,834

 

Not everyone still has their job. Martin Good, for example, lost his with the laid off employees, but unlike most of them who are now scrambling to find a new job in this economy, he is floating down in his Golden Parachute. But as Tyco, Enron, and Worldcom have shown, there is no company too successful to be brought down by gross mismanagement.