480°

THQ's Jason Rubin: "Everyone's out there beating us up"

"We speak with the new THQ president to get his take on what needs to be done to get THQ back in the black, Jason Rubin, the co-founder of Naughty Dog and creator of the once hugely popular Crash Bandicoot, has a long history in the games industry. With Danny Bilson having recently left THQ and the publisher needing someone to drive its games strategy, the company looked to Rubin to overhaul its business and get it back to profitability. Whereas Bilson oversaw product development and marketing, Rubin, in the newly created role of president of THQ, is second only to CEO Brian Farrell and will have a larger impact on the publisher's future.", writes GamesIndustry.

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gamesindustry.biz
zeal0us4323d ago

THQ does a good job of beating itself up.

Zuperman4323d ago

Dear THQ,

Sure it's rough right now at THQ, that doesn't you should complain. This happens to just about everyone when things aren't going their way, just go back to the drawing board and begin making phenomenal franchise's that gamers want to play.

Team N4G.

WrAiTh Sp3cTr34323d ago

Ah yes, that flame bait title really did its job...

Kran4322d ago

But... Darksiders and Metro are Phenomenal franchises that gamers want to play....

SephirothX214322d ago

I think you need a bit more depth than that. Like maybe how to create amazing new franchises?

Shane Kim4322d ago

Lol Zuperman, if that was the answer we wouldn't have shitty games.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4322d ago
MaxXAttaxX4323d ago

Jason Rubin should have stayed with Naughty Dog.

Brawler4323d ago

But where's the fun in that already have a successful company I think hes looking to try to save them, and bring back THQ to where they were.

Kinect4322d ago

I hope he fails big time

Trebius514322d ago

I can see your age and immaturity when you say something as ridiculous as "I hope he fails".

Why you would wish negativity and harm on other people is beyond me ... they have families they need to feed and theyre people just like us trying to get by.

People like you need to be eradicated from this earth...holding back the humans as a species.

We all hope whoever you are, behind your little keyboard, that you fail at life in all ways possible kid, so you can see how ridiculous your comment is.

Disccordia4322d ago

He left ND like.. Ten years ago

Parasyte4322d ago

@Trebius51

I couldn't have said it better myself.

ravinash4322d ago

@ Kinect.

You hope he fails.

Why?

If he fails, then there will be less games to play.
If he is successful, but you don't like the game...don't buy them...it's that easy.

But what if he is successful, and then produces a game you like.

Maybe you would like to think these things through before making comments in the future.

morganfell4322d ago (Edited 4322d ago )

I think Kinect is right and Trebius is the one being pompous.

You have to gall to say Kinect is holding back the human race because of his one comment? Okay, let's play that game and bear in mind I am not pretending to be morally superior or mature.

Do you think your attitude is one to which the human race should evolve? Instead of using an adult approach that clearly demonstrated why THQ needs to survive you regressed into the very creature you claim to despise in people like Kinect.

You fail to understand his desire to see harm befall someone then in the next breath you wish him eradicated. People in glass houses...

In that response you also forego mentioning why Kinect was wrong.

In many ways THQ needs to fail. Big time. That have had a host of IPs they have squandered. For every 1 good title like Darksiders they have 10 they have shoved onto the gamer with nothing more than millions in marketing. Their support mechanism is likely the worst in all of gaming. The sooner some of these valuable IPs such as Warhammer are out from under the thumb of THQ the better all gamers will be.

"Well he is trying to turn the company around." It isn't going to happen. If I thought it possible I would be all for a second chance. But it took more than one person to destroy THQ and many of the problem children are still around. Several IPs in the pipeline at THQ are being wasted for a quick buck and will not get the TLC and financing they deserve. That is a disservice to the gamer and a blight on the community in general.

I warned people months ago Itagaki's title at THQ was a steaming pile and he and Valhalla were about to be dropped from THQ. Everyone here laughed and attacked. Some of the PM's I received were astounding in their ability to assemble so many vulgarities and misspellings into a single sentence. Then again responses on N4G were not exactly lackluster. About 6 weeks went by and then suddenly no one was laughing.

Things are bad at THQ right now, really bad, and the new Fresh Prince has done nothing to straighten out those issues at the studio level that are ruining titles.

dead_eye4322d ago

@morganfell

You clearly didn't read Trebius51's comment

"Why you would wish negativity and harm on other people is beyond me ... they have families they need to feed and theyre people just like us trying to get by. "

That would be why Kinect was wrong.

Hate for the sake of hate is pointless.

And who's to say one person isn't the reason for the downfall of THQ. If the person at the top has the crap ideas then there's not much you can do. All shit rolls downhill.

And how long has "the fresh prince" been in charge. Can you just make changes with the click of a finger in a big company.

Diver4322d ago

all you dudes are missin kinects point. he wasnt hating the guy. why did you jump to that point. an what's better, one guy lose his job or another 100? he ain't done nothing to fix the bleeding.

but apparently everybody thanks this is a personal attack instead of a guy like kinect knowing its time for that to go. the game industry will be better off once the gangrene is cut off.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 4322d ago
SilentNegotiator4323d ago

Hey, THQ! Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop....stop it, THQ! Seriously, you're going to give yourself a concussion!

Kinect4322d ago

u said stop four times thus da disagrees :) take care

nukeitall4322d ago

I don't seeing, the president acknowledging mistakes and weaknesses is the first step towards correcting it. Way worse to hear a president say, everything is fine while the company is tanking!

That is what was going on with THQ in the past.

SheenuTheLegend4322d ago

they need to make the wrestling games like hctp
those were awesome.
now these days they make wrestlers like they have not eaten something from last 10 days

ATi_Elite4322d ago

Dear THQ

You screwed up the Red Faction series so until you fix it........YOUR CURSED!!!

Red Faction was the second reason why i bought a PS2 (DVD player was #1) and the game is a CLASSIC!

every RF game since has failed miserably in comparison to the fun i had with Red Faction.

So if you want the curse lifted i suggest you go all out and make a PROPER Red Faction 2 but until then i suggest you start shopping for Bankruptcy Lawyers.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4322d ago
NYC_Gamer4323d ago

THQ beat themselves up by making poor business choices

HammadTheBeast4323d ago

Do people even really play Wrestling games?

vortis4322d ago

They didn't fail at their core games, they failed trying to do piss-poor cash-in jobs on casual games.

They blew all their money on that UDraw crap and it backfired and they lost ALL their capital because of it.

DwightOwen4322d ago

I play Rumble Roses, or at least I did until fucking Sony locked away BC in their consoles.

optimus4322d ago (Edited 4322d ago )

@hammad... Back in the day, my 2nd game for the nes was pro wrestling. Then tecmo wrestling blew that out of the water. Wrestlefest was one of the few games i would always put more than one quarter for at the arcades...Now some 24 yrs later i still look forward to a good wrestling game, and is usually a selling point that i look for in a console... So to answer your question,..yes we do.

jjdoyle4323d ago

anbody ask for the draw tablet on ps3 and 360? not many that i remember. own fault.

OC_MurphysLaw4323d ago

THQ gets beat up, but they also have been cut a lot of slack. Nobody wants to see them go under, and many keep hoping they will figure it out. There biggest issue (IMO) they lack a true Mega Ton franchise... Saints Row is great but its mostly looked at as GTA's step brother & its just put out its 3rd game in the series... Darksiders IP is Zelda like...UFC...err...its gone. Homefront ... generic COD game... I can't think of others right now...but I think that says something right there. THQ needs new fresh IP that is done AAA level and not a clone or generic verson. Something to really hang their hat from and say this...this is the new face of THQ and this is the quality bar moving forward.

Ravenor4323d ago

Company of Heroes and Dawn of War are pretty close to that. It's just to bad and kinda sad that Saints Row is the only thing in their roster thats gotten close to those two quality wise.

InTheLab4322d ago

Metro Last Light and 2033 should be their main franchise, but since it's not a CoD clone, they didn't bother advertising it in favor of that generic trash shooter Homefront.

Cosmo8114322d ago

Did you seriously just compare Darksiders to Legend of Zelda?

Are you fucking kidding me?

lategamer4322d ago

Darksiders is probably the closest game to Zelda out on PS3 and 360.

Show all comments (71)
50°

The Early History of Naughty Dog

Naughty Dog was founded in 1984 by Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin, but what were they up to before their big break?

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play.jumpcutonline.co.uk
90°

Crash: How PlayStation's Answer to Mario Became His Own Bandicoot

Did you know Crash Bandicoot was originally going to be more like Uncharted? IGN chats to the marsupial's co-creator alongside Crash 4's art director on his evolution.

Sonic-and-Crash1360d ago (Edited 1360d ago )

Mega fault from Sony there....Either that didnt buy the franchise back when its value was at lowest point because Activision s inability to make games, either that they gave almost for free the original blueprints of the first 3 Crash Bandicoot games (+CTR which are still Sony/ND' s property) in order the mediocre remakes to be developped without being exclusives for PS4 ..

...Sony underestimated the power of Crash bandicoot and when they started to understand its value (because of the negative fan reaction on Playstation All Stars where CB was absent ) it was too late .
..Also they r rumors that there was a deal with Activision to buy it back but when Activision saw the huge hype created by the possible return of Crash on PS they broke the deal

neomahi1360d ago

It's not PlayStations mascot. Universal opted to sell their assets and the rest is history. Crash has appeared on competing consoles, and Microsoft loves it but you haven't seen Mario or Master Chief on PlayStation or Nintendo hardware, though is was rumored at one point The Master Chief Collection was going to launch on the Switch just to try and invade enemy territory to build up hype for Halo Infinite only for consumers to then realize if they wanted to play the new game they had to get Microsoft hardware but still make money off a fizzled set of games no longer making money on Xbox, kind of like what Sony are doing with Death Stranding and Horizon: Zero Dawn, except the problem with that is Day 1 sales, like console exclusives, fans now know if they wait a year and play the current list of exclusives to entertain them long enough, after a year they can play it on their console of choice.

120°

Oculus' Jason Rubin Not Worried By Sony/Insomniac Acquisition

Oculus' Jason Rubin says he's not worried about the news that Sony is acquiring Stormland developer Insomniac Games, teasing big announcements to come.

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uploadvr.com
Neonridr1701d ago

I'd be happy to see Oculus and Sony work together to get Edge of Nowhere and Unspoken on PSVR. More people to try the games out.

ApocalypseShadow1700d ago

Even though Jason Rubin and Ted Price are buddies. Having one less major developer for your platform is not all smiles and candy.

1700d ago Replies(1)