14 DAY TRIAL // Danny Bilson, who served as executive vice president at THQ for four years, says that the now bankrupt publisher never understood how deep its problems were and acted as if it could stage a quick and substantial turnaround.
[ADMARk=1]The former executive tells GamersIndustry.biz that, “I’m not kidding, okay: we knew we were in trouble, but we knew we had a good line-up, and I thought we had enough money put away to support that stuff, finish it, and market it properly. We had a plan to live another day.”
Bilson has more knowledge about THQ coming launches than other executives because he was in charge of core games and served as the public face of the company.
The bankruptcy took place after he left the publisher and the ex-vice president makes it clear that he does not know exactly what happened to the company and how it depleted its funds.
He adds, “I’m not privy to what went on in there and I didn’t try to find out. I needed to move forward. I really wasn’t engaged at all, and then the news came in December. This was happening to my friends. I felt terrible. I just felt terrible.”
At the moment, Bilson is working on a number of trans-media projects, which will mix movies and video games, using genres ranging from fantasy to science fiction and horror.
THQ no longer exists as a gaming company, with its assets sold to a number of other publishers, including SEGA and Deep Silver.
Metro: Last Light, one of the games that Bilson always praised, is being launched this week and Company of Heroes 2, another high-profile THQ project, is being delivered by SEGA in late June.
Saints Row 4, which was first imagined by Volition under THQ leadership, is being launched on August 23 by Deep Silver.