Layoffs, wireless, video games

THQ Closes San Diego Office to Focus Wireless Game Development on Smartphones

Bruce V. Bigelow 2/2/09

Video game maker THQ (NASDAQ: THQI) confirmed today the company is closing down its wireless game development unit in San Diego and laying off 31 employees. (Check San Diego’s updated layoff tracker here.)

The cutback is part of a broader consolidation of wireless game development that includes shutdowns of similar operations in the United Kingdom and Germany, with layoffs in all three locations totaling 100. Spokeswoman Julie MacMedan at THQ headquarters in Agoura Hills, CA, confirmed the San Diego layoffs by e-mail.The move is part of new focus at the company’s Minnesota-based wireless division, which concentrates on making games for the iPhone, and as well as other “high-end wireless devices such as smartphones and the N-Gage.” THQ’s wireless division also has an international headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

THQ makes WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, de Blob, Saints Row 2, Warhammer and other games for a variety of platforms, including multiplayer online PC gaming, Wii, Nintendo’s product line, and the PlayStation product line.

The company is scheduled to report its fiscal third quarter financial results Thursday, which cover the three month period ending Dec. 31. THQ disclosed a restructuring in November as part of its disappointing fiscal financial results in the preceding quarter. The company said at that time “THQ plans to focus on fewer, higher quality titles, and to align its organization and cost structure accordingly.”

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492