February 24, 2010 - THQ isn't looking to take down Blizzard's mighty World of Warcraft with its upcoming Warhammer 40K MMO. During yesterday's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said he believes there's room for another major title in the crowded, massively multiplayer gaming space.
"World of Warcraft is a great game, but as you know in entertainment, there's always the juggernaut and that means there's opportunities out there for the right MMO, said Farrell. " What we love about the Warhammer 40K MMO is that it's different in that it's a sci-fi, futuristic-based world. We're not competing directly in the orcs and elves fantasy environment that World of Warcraft is in. We can differentiate ourselves."
"We have an experienced team building it. On the PC alone, the Warhammer 40K series has sold over five million units, so there's an audience there that likes that universe," he added. "We think there's always competition in every market, but you got to have an x-factor, a point of differentiation, and we think we've got that."
Farrell also revealed the 40K project will have different pricing structures depending on which part of the globe the game is played.
"The way we're building the 40K MMO, and we think it's the right way, is with a flexible business model in mind. We think the subscription model still works in North American and Europe, It's more challenging in Asia, so we're building it in a way that we can either use time-based sessions or microtransactions as the business model in different markets," Farrell said.
"I think going forward in the MMO market you're going to have to be flexible in business models based on geography, and that's how we're building the 40K project."
THQ revealed during its last fiscal quarter conference call the publisher is set to reveal the Warhammer 40K MMO at this year's E3 in June. "Take a look at E3 and I think people will like what they see," Farrell added.
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