14 DAY TRIAL // A leading executive from video game publisher THQ has stated that his company has seen only a limited effect on sales because of the downtime of the PlayStation Network and especially its Store component.
THQ has recently launched MX vs. ATV Alive, a game which relies heavily on the digital distribution model, but it seems that even that title was not significantly affected by the problems seen with PSN.
Paul Pucino, who is an executive vice president and a chief financial officer at THQ, has said, “The way I like to think about it with respect to PSN is like a deferral of revenue more so than a loss of revenue. I think a lot of people will just have to wait before they get online and download the stuff they want.”
Speaking at the Cowen and Company Technology Media & Telecom Conference, the THQ executive suggested that players will be interested in picking up PSN content in the near future and that THQ will continue to profit from the service.
The PSN is now up and running again, with an extra firmware update mandatory for all those who use it in order to get better security.
Today Sony also relaunched the PlayStation Store with a big update and the company says that it will be pushing more content in the coming weeks in order to compensate for the lost time.
Pucino also said that THQ is looking forward to see official announcements and details about new home consoles from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, because a new hardware generation has generally been a good period for all companies in the video game industry.
The CFO said that THQ plans to expand in the digital distribution space in coming years, but that internal projections show that, until the 2014 fiscal year, traditional packaged sale will make up most of its sales.