Guillermo del Toro's Game Has Been Canceled

[The Wooster]

Guillermo del Toro's Game Has Been Canceled

THQ has halted work on Insane and returned the rights to director, Guillermo del Toro.

THQ's ongoing money problems [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116977-THQ-Cuts-Deep-to-Survive] have now cost the publisher two promising original projects. Earlier this year, the company dropped Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.375290-THQ-Abandons-Devils-Third], and now it's decided to cancel work on Guillermo del Toro's horror sandbox title, Insane.

THQ announced it had returned the rights to the IP to del Toro during an investor call today.

Saints Row developer, Volition, had been working on Insane since around August 2010. The title was supposed to be the first installment in a trilogy of the same name. According to recent rumors, the project had been handed off to a studio in Canada shortly before it was axed. Going by an interview with del Toro from back in 2011, the game had at least another two years of development ahead of it.



In response to its plummeting income, THQ has been forced to abandon projects that aren't guaranteed money spinners. In 2011 the company shuttered a number of its studios and dropped several long-running franchises. It's unclear if the consolidation has worked, but the publisher has managed to stave off financial destruction for the time being. It's still losing money, but a "reverse stock split" allowed it to narrowly avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118671-THQ-Dodges-Delisting]

Itagaki has managed to find a partner, but not a publisher, to fund work on Devil's Third, hopefully del Toro manages something similar.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5831241/guillermo-del-toro-rationally-explains-how-much-longer-insane-will-take]


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[Soviet Heavy]

That's a shame. Del Toro is one of those people who has such brilliant visual design aesthetics that I could easily see a game adopting them. Here's to hoping it gets picked up again.

 

[Irridium]

Aw, I was looking forward to the game.

What a shame.

 

[Doclector]

Please god, somebody pick it up. Aren't we horror fans on the consoles allowed any good news?

And sandbox?

Guillermo del toro. Horror game. The name "insane". And...sandbox.

Jesus. Whatever that crazy bearded genius was up to, it was certainly going to stand out.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

I really feel sorry for THQ at this point& all the people working within their studios // It's heartbreaking when a project you've been pouring your every waking moment into get pulled because the studio just can't afford it anymore

-M

 

[MPerce]

Damn it. I was really looking forward to that.

Hopefully it gets picked up by someone else.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

This is just as depressing as mountains of madness being cancelled.

 

[Tony2077]

damn i hope this downward slope stops before they go completely

 

[Saviordd1]

While it WOULD be a guaranteed money spinner, I doubt THQ will last long enough to see any of it.

Pretty much this, I'm hoping Saints 4 and whatever else they have makes enough money to get them up and rolling again so they can make new IP and such.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I imagine his name carries enough weight to find a publisher.

captcha: slippery slope

I didn't realize captcha could be so pessimistic

 

[Jamous]

Why is it that the nice things thought of by del Toro simply don't get made? First the At The Mountains Of Madness film and now Insane. It makes me sad.

 

[weirdee]

While it WOULD be a guaranteed money spinner, I doubt THQ will last long enough to see any of it.

That be the reasoning why they cut it.

We won't be hearing much from THQ until they burn out or pull through.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

While it WOULD be a guaranteed money spinner, I doubt THQ will last long enough to see any of it.

That be the reasoning why they cut it.

We won't be hearing much from THQ until they burn out or pull through.

Apart from projects that were far along enough in development that it shutting them down would cost more money than it ended up saving, THQ are pretty much dropping everything except their core (which is to say 'proven to be profitable') franchises... so that's, what, Warhammer 40k, Saints Row and...?

So we can expect to see THQ's next announced games to be Saints Row 4 (already heavily hinted at) and either Dawn of War 3 or Space Marine 2 (tough call, DoW has a more solid track record but SM is multiplatform)... and you can bet they'll be even more heavily DLCed than previous titles.

If THQ ends up going tits up, then the only real hope I have is that someone like Paradox or CD Projekt picks up Volition, Relic and their associated franchises.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As bummed as I am for this, it makes me really damn nervous for South Park: Stick of Truth. I've been dying for that game since it was announced Obsidian would be making it.

Wayyy too late in development for THQ to cut it, wouldn't be much money saved from doing so... not to mention that doing so could give them the extra headache of having angry IP holders and their lawyers added into the mix.

Besides, I can't imagine that a pretty much completed game based on a popular IP would have much trouble finding a new publisher should it need to.

 

[Tony2077]

well company of heroes 2 has been announced with them as the publisher so i hope they at least last threw 2013

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

Shame, I was starry eyed when I first heard that Del Toro was going to be involved with creating a horror title. I'm a huge fan of his and I believe his style of story telling would translate strongly.

 

[Shinsei-J]

It's a sad day for all when you see fresh IP dropped.
Hope these two games get picked up by another publisher.