Xbox Creator Says THQ Lacked Digital Strategy

The man who is widely credited with the development of the original Xbox home gaming console at Microsoft says that, down on its luck, publisher THQ lacked a strategy for the digital space, which lead to the deal that the company has with Innovative Leisure.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Seamus Blackley, who is the leader of Innovative Leisure, stated, “The one thing that’s true about these new platforms is that if you think you know what you’re talking about you’re just completely wrong. Anybody who says, ‘This is how it’s going to work,’ is completely wrong, because the target is moving so fast. And the target is defined by whatever is coolest to play.”

He added, “However you happen to pay for whatever is currently coolest to play is the darling business model of the moment, but trying to chase that from a business standpoint is really dumb. You chase it from a gameplay standpoint. And Danny totally got that.”

Blackley represented video game developers as part of the Creative Artists Agency until 2011 and then left his position in order to create Innovative Leisure with a number of former developers from Atari, who have experience working on classic titles like Gauntlet, Centipede and Asteroids.

The new company plans to create innovative experiences on a variety of new devices, like the iOS-powered ones from Apple, and for the digital space.

It is not clear what titles the company currently has in development and how involved THQ will be in their creation.

The publisher has recently announced that it has lost more money than initially projected during the last nine months of 2011, mainly because it failed to actually sell its uDraw tablet.

As a result THQ is currently undergoing a reorganization process that will see it fire 240 people and then re-focus its business on core properties like Saints Row, Warhammer 40,000, UFC Undisputed and Company of Heroes.