While it appeared on the surface to be a success, Gamasutra is reporting this morning that the reasoning behind the sale of the UFC license from THQ to EA was the simple fact that it lost money for THQ:
This is actually quite shocking because as the article mentions, THQ seemed to be excited about the titles' performances over the past few years. Now to have it come out that the UFC titles underperformed and actually lost money, well if I were a THQ investor I'd be pulling my money out of the company not knowing how other big box titles are performing at this point.
The question now becomes, how secure is THQ's hold on the WWE license? Some things to ponder for sure.
"THQ management told Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter that UFC Undisputed 3, which released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation in February, fell short of hitting its break-even point of 2 million copies sold.
That was in spite of UFC Undisputed 3 becoming the third biggest-selling game in the U.S. in February, and THQ previously noting the title received better-than-expected sales. The series' second most recent release, UFC Undisputed 2010, also underperformed."
That was in spite of UFC Undisputed 3 becoming the third biggest-selling game in the U.S. in February, and THQ previously noting the title received better-than-expected sales. The series' second most recent release, UFC Undisputed 2010, also underperformed."
This is actually quite shocking because as the article mentions, THQ seemed to be excited about the titles' performances over the past few years. Now to have it come out that the UFC titles underperformed and actually lost money, well if I were a THQ investor I'd be pulling my money out of the company not knowing how other big box titles are performing at this point.
The question now becomes, how secure is THQ's hold on the WWE license? Some things to ponder for sure.
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