With the less than stellar release of Red Faction: Armageddon in the books, THQ has decided to phase out one of its biggest franchises again. In previous generations the series saw some pretty solid first-person shooters with innovative stories, designs, gameplay and seldom-seen destructible environments. With Red Faction: Guerilla, they tried to get the series back on track, with a pretty good amount of success. The new destruction engine in Guerilla was extremely unique and innovative with the ability to destroy structures brick by brick as well as terrain and pretty much anything. Armageddon houses the same capabilities, but was criticized for its cramped level design that hindered large scale destruction that made Guerilla so popular.
Well, Armageddon did not sell well and THQ attributes their losses so far this year (about $38.4 million this quarter) in large part to that game. Even with Guerilla, it did not have great sales numbers and it was a very good game, but only reached a select group of people. Even fewer got on board with Armageddon. The CEO Brian Farrell has stated they have no more plans for the franchise, and:
Given that the title now in two successive versions has just found a niche, we do not intend to carry forward with that franchise in any meaningful way.
It is sad to see a good series like Red Faction be on the chopping block for now, but maybe some interest will be sparked down the road to take the series in another new direction. Let us know what you think!
Source: GameSpot
