14 DAY TRIAL // We live in some very tough times, as more and more companies, regardless of their area of expertise, are affected by the worldwide recession, which is taking its toll on all industry segments. Although some analysts figured that the gaming branch of entertainment would come out relatively safe, things didn't work like that and a lot of companies, big and small, were reported to have started making some headcount reductions and taking cost cutting measures.
As EA, Microsoft or Sony were affected, THQ, the publisher of titles such as Saints Row or WWE SmackDown vs. Raw, was also affected by the recession. Despite the pretty big sales that the latest iterations of the aforementioned franchises recorded, it seems that a drastic measure needed to be taken, and a THQ representative announced today that the majority of the quality assurance department at the Volition studio in Champaign, Illinois, was laid off.
“Today we notified 86 of the 102 employees in the Volition quality assurance department that they will be let go,” said the THQ spokesman. “Our quality assurance will now be primarily conducted through THQ's centralized QA facilities, with a small staff remaining on-site in Champaign. All laid off employees (both full-time and temporary) will be given at least sixty days' notice. We will do what we can to assist them in finding work in the community or elsewhere in THQ.”
While the decision was tough, it's nice to hear that at least the company is making efforts to find the people who were laid off new places to work. The Volition studio is famous for the Saints Row sandbox action adventure titles and is now working on the third iteration in the series, as well as on the Red Faction: Guerrilla shooter.
Hopefully this will mean that no other staff from the studio will be fired in the near future and that the developers can work in peace on the future title that THQ has prepared for gamers across the world.