Sign on Options
Theme: [Light Selected] To Dark»

THQ closing Arizona QA facility, moving jobs to Montreal

Publisher to gradually transition operations to Canada; "some" of the 57 affected workers to be given option of relocating.

THQ continues to cut costs, as the publisher today confirmed a Game Informer report that it would be closing its Arizona quality assurance (QA) facility and moving those operations to Montreal. The move will impact 57 THQ employees, with an unspecified number of them being given the choice to relocate to Canada along with the QA operation.

"Montreal is a prime location for industry talent, has favorable economics, and is a big part of our future game development plans," THQ explained in a statement. "With those considerations in mind, we have made the business decision to consolidate our two quality assurance operations into one location at THQ Montreal…The decision to move QA operations was driven by industry, market and economic trends."

It's been a tumultuous year for THQ. In January, the publisher announced a restructuring to exit the children's licensed game market, and then laid off 118 workers to change its long-awaited massively multiplayer online role-playing game Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online to a standard RPG. More recently, the publisher laid off workers at its San Diego studio after losing the UFC license to Electronic Arts, saw abundant turnover in its executive ranks, divested itself of any interest in Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third, and avoided delisting from the NASDAQ stock exchange with a 1-for-10 reverse stock split.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

23 comments
mtnjak
mtnjak

 ..."has favorable economics..." = Canadian tax breaks.   But I thought it was "patriotic" to pay higher taxes?

cheamo
cheamo

They should move the coyotes to Quebec while they are at it.

lily_tiger
lily_tiger

"'Montreal is a prime location for industry talent, has favorable economics, and is a big part of our future game development plans,' THQ explained in a statement."

 

In response, Arizona released a statement saying that it is a prime location for racial profiling.

This comment has been deleted

This comment has been deleted

fullframework
fullframework

THQ's troubles sound like karma for introducing the online pass system.

stziggy
stziggy

You know this country is in big trouble when we're losing jobs to Canada.

zaiwen
zaiwen like.author.displayName 1 Like

die THQ ....DIE!!!!

Uesugi-dono
Uesugi-dono

THQ has DRM in their gamesaves that prevent the gamer from backing up their saves; either to another device like an external HD, or to Cloud Saving like PS Plus.

 

So pretty much the only THQ news I wanna read is about how they FAIL.

pidow
pidow

EA is buying up and putting people out of work........jobs that are moving out of the US, not being outsourced a good thing. 

marcusurelius
marcusurelius

thq is a pretty legit company it's a shame to see them closing up shop. they never did any wrong doing towards me or ripped me off like blizzard.

Seifer_692
Seifer_692 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Monteral, also known as Montreal.

marcusurelius
marcusurelius like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @Seifer_692 

 

LOL i just now got that. isn't this guy canadian? shouldn't he be able to spell simple provinces and cities in canada?

 

monteral, qwabeck

dreman77
dreman77 like.author.displayName 1 Like

Brendan Sinclair is  Canadian like myself. He should be able to spell Montreal without even thinking. Silly mistake.  Or as Wolverine would say: "Unacceptable!"

Polybren
Polybren

 @dreman77 Stupid typo made worse because of the word I happened to screw up. Mortified.

This comment has been deleted

dreman77
dreman77 like.author.displayName 1 Like

 @Gelugon_baat I'm not assuming. It's clearly stated in his bio. If he wasn't proud he wouldn't have mentioned it.

hadlee73
hadlee73 like.author.displayName 1 Like

The senior editor should have edited the title of his article :P

PixelAddict
PixelAddict like.author.displayName 1 Like

Looks like we're not the only ones who would like an edit button...  Google Maps can't find Monteral, Canada.  Even by boat.

DCeric
DCeric like.author.displayName 1 Like

Thought it was Montreal when did they change the name?

Mozuckint
Mozuckint

Threatened De-listing from the stock market

Consecutive financial losses

Being sued by it's own investors

Closing Offices...

 

Can THQ catch a break anymore?

YagerMyster
YagerMyster

Makes for a long commute getting to the new office.

slippyblade
slippyblade like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 5 Like

This is a shame to hear as I live in Phoenix.  Having a part of a game studio locally was actually inspiration to a lot of the college kids in my area.  But then again, Phoenix and Arizona in general is an armpit of society and getting worse thanks the politics occurring within the state.  Jan brewer trying to destroy any hope of growing the state and our county Sheriff starting yet ANOTHER "investigation" into Obama's birth certificate...

Conversation powered by Livefyre

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!