Former THQ president says the firm had "every chance to survive had it not made massive mistakes"

Former THQ president Jason Rubin has said the firm has "every chance to survive had it not made massive mistakes."

Speaking with MCV, Rubin said it was "incorrect" to surmise that the firm's ultimate demise could be attributed to changes within the industry. Instead, Rubin pointed out some of the mistakes he feels THQ made, starting with uDraw.

"The incredible losses attached to uDraw, massive wasted capital in the unpublished MMO that was cancelled, [and] sticking with children's and casual titles far after mobile and tablets had killed the business, [and] bad, late, or otherwise inferior titles like Homefront, and a generally haphazard and inefficient approach to deal making," he said.

"There are certainly things to be said about challenges in the mid-tier triple-A publishing business, but I don't think that conflating it with THQ's experience is helpful. I think that luck plays a role in success and failure, but THQ's decisions and execution were the major reason for its failure.

"It would be a cop-out to say that bad luck was the predominant force. Could Homefront have caught a nerve and sold 10 million copies? It's possible I guess, but probably not without better production. And it's hard to attribute a cancelled MMO to bad luck. That was simply a bad decision in a sea of bad decisions."

Rubin went on to say he was "extremely pleased" Crytek hired many of the core team member at Vigil.

"As I have said elsewhere, I consider it a failure on my part that I was not able to save the whole team," he said. “I made many calls to potential buyers, effectively begging them to take a look at Vigil during the process, but there were no takers.

"I think that is a result of timing, and confusion over Darksiders’ quality and sales rather than an indication of the value of the team. I am very happy for [studio boss] Dave Adams and the team and wish them the best.”

You can read the full interview through the link.