Due to poor sales, THQ has decided to put an end the Red Faction franchise.
Red Faction: Armageddon has signaled the end of not just a familiar red planet, but an entire, transmedia universe. Speaking during an investor call this evening, THQ CEO Brian Farrell described the franchise's reach as "niche," and consequently no longer worth pursuing.
"Given that that 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," Farrell said. He described the development team at Volition as "talented," and noted that they would be moving on to the company's Guillermo del Toro project, Insane.
Though Red Faction: Guerrilla fell victim to a B-for-botched launch campaign in 2009, it was received well enough by critics and "niche" consumers to warrant further exploration. 2011 brought a sequel (Red Faction: Armageddon), a promotional spin-off (Red Faction: Battlegrounds) and a SyFy original movie called Red Faction: Origins.
We'll try to get more info from THQ regarding its decision, but for now you can return to the older games (there were two before Guerrilla, by the way!) and extract some relevant lessons for the future. Bonus: If you complete Red Faction 1, you'll learn how to defuse a bomb.
So that’s pretty much all she wrote for the Red Faction franchise folks. The series’ latest entry, Armageddon, had the misfortune of launching the same week E3 2011 kicked off, as well as Infamous 2.
What do you think, were Armageddon’s poor sales just bad timing, will you miss the franchise, or are you thinking good riddance?
Source: Joystiq
