THQ is a publisher originally known for shovelware and movie/television tie-ins. In more recent years, they have switched gears and are making a legitimate run at being a top tier video game publisher. This year’s Homefront was one of their showcase titles to prove that they could develop a new IP and triple-A game. It was not a complete failure, but its mixed reception brought some doubt as to whether we’d ever see a sequel.
Never fear! THQ’s Danny Bilson has a lot to say on the topic and assures gamers that they will be seeing more from the Homefront franchise in the future.
Back in March, before Homefront was released, expectations were high and David Votypka of Kaos Studios let slip that Homefront was viewed as a multiple game series all along. This statement, along with many others, fueled the hype and anticipation for Homefront to the point that some people considered it to be one of the biggest titles in the industry. Of course, in the end, it all came down to how well the title sold and what gamers thought about it.
After a couple of delays, Homefront was released and along with it, a mixture of praise and criticism. Homefront was complimented by some for its gripping cinematics and solid shooter mechanics, but many more described the game as short and unoriginal. Whatever your opinion, nearly everyone can agree that the game was overhyped, and unrealistic expectations left many players underwhelmed.
The big question for fans of Homefront is whether or not there will be a sequel. With news of a significant drop in THQ’s stock and mixed reviews for the game across the board, a sequel seemed somewhat unlikely. However, according to Danny Bilson, THQ is pursuing a sequel and has interesting plans in store.
“Everything we learned from [the original] you’ll see executed in other games going forward, and including that franchise going forward. We’ll have some really interesting announcements in the future about the future of that brand.”
He didn’t divulge any specific details, but instead elaborated on how much he had invested in the game personally.
“I put a lot of myself into that effort on that game. I learned a lot. I still think it’s creatively a fantastic game, a great place to go. The environmental storytelling is excellent. The marketing was wonderful. That brand resonated with a lot of people emotionally.
We sold through a million units in a week. That’s huge on a brand new IP.”
Bilson sounds very optimistic about the franchise and goes on to discuss about how much they learned from Homefront.
“We’re growing. We’re learning. We’re applying learnings. That game taught us tons. It also taught us some really good things. It was an example of the new way we market core in THQ. That was the first large campaign executed under my leadership with great marketers unchained. We succeeded really well.”
All of this is wonderful news for fans of Homefront and it will be interesting to see how THQ Montreal handles the property after the recent closing of Kaos Studios. Hopefully, Homefront 2 will build upon the potential seen in the original.
What did you think about Homefront? Are you willing to give a Homefront sequel a chance?
Source: Eurogamer
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un-originality? i see a pic of what looks to be a scene from red dawn. i saw a few movie rip-offs in MW2, and i still thought those were pretty cool. e.g. the shower scene at the prison and the movie the rock??
Even if this game wasn’t overhyped, the game still sucked. I just hope they realized how bad this game is so they’ll try to improve it big time for the sequel. Otherwise it’ll be just another waste of space on the game rack…
You can’t help but be compared to Red Dawn when THE WRITER of Red Dawn wrote the story for Homefront. Can’t wait to see what the are gonna do differently.
I don’t think he wrote the story for Homefront. He might have helped with the backstory, but none of that was in the actual game other than the newspaper articles you pick up. Waste of talent if you ask me…
Best part is you can skip over those. I think I found all of 2.
So what they’ve learned is how to successfully market a game? I want to hear that they’re planning on making some major improvements to both single player and multiplayer. Singleplayer especially needs better integration of story because a lot of what was in their marketing hype barely figures into the game.