Struggling publisher THQ has announced that it has cancelled pre-production on inSane, the ambitious horror game project created in partnership with Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro.
Originally announced at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, InSane was planned as a trilogy of AAA horror games from Saints Row developer Volition. With the project no longer in development, THQ has handed the IP rights back to del Toro.
During an investor conference call today, THQ president Jason Rubin said that in addition to dropping inSane, the company has also decided not to pursue any Facebook or casual mobile games, reaffirming its commitment to large-scale console titles.
"By canceling these explorations outside of our core business, we feel we can improve focus on our core game portfolio," Rubin said.
Of course, these aren't the first cuts to come from THQ over the past few months. Early this year, the company decided to exit the licensed kids' game business, and in May it dropped Devil's Third, the third-person action game from former Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki.
In addition to dropping InSane, THQ announced that it saw better-than-expected revenues for its fiscal first quarter, thanks in large part to sales of older titles like Saints Row The Third, WWE 12, and UFC Undisputed 3.
ROFL,...pre-production was getting a font on each letter approved by multiple producers, art directors, art managers, creative directors, design managers, art managers, producer of art, design producer, producer of design, production manager, executive creative director of management and design to the 5th power etc, etc.
Apart from jokes, knowing how much has been spent on this project and what pre-production work was done in about two years would be very interesting.
It is such a long time that maybe the project was neglected or delayed for some reason; it might be more a case of killing vaporware that isn't going to happen before it becomes expensive than a true downscaling.
Maybe there was no 'game' there? If so, they're smart to divert resources away from it. I mean, it's great that the themes are Lovecraftian etc But that's just story. You need real core fun gameplay that's surprising and refreshing.
It is such a long time that maybe the project was neglected or delayed for some reason; it might be more a case of killing vaporware that isn't going to happen before it becomes expensive than a true downscaling.