While THQ isn’t in a good way right now, you wouldn’t know that by the funding of some of their studios. For instance, Tomonobu Itagaki indicates that Valhalla Game Studio has received more money on Devil’s Third than he has on any project previously.
“We’ve been working with THQ for two and a half years, and when I was working in Japan I was at the publisher myself so I can’t really compare because it’s different. The circumstances are very different. I really understand what the publisher thinks because I used to be the publisher myself,” Itagaki began. “The one thing that’s completely different between the Eastern publisher and Western publisher is the budget. I’ve made more than 30 games, and if you put a little bit more [money] into the one I’m making now, Devil’s Third, I could make all of the 30 games I made before. The budget you use for the promotion is completely different too. Those are the biggest differences.”
Just because he’s got plenty of money to throw around does not mean Itagaki is insensitive to the plight of the general consumer and what a new console release might mean for him and them. “If I didn’t have any knowledge of the economy, or if I were young, I’d want to release my game on the new platform. The decision I’m making now is that, if I released my next game on a next-gen console or if someone releases a next gen console, then all the publishers, developers, and players will be so confused and everything will be messed up because of the economical situation,” he said. “The U.S. economy is bad. The EU economy is bad. The Japanese economy is bad. This is not good timing for the release of a next-generation console. This is just not for the game industry. I can say the same for customers.”
Source: Game Informer
