THQ considers itself "one of the big" publishers, says Farrell

Brain Farrell doesn't see any reason why THQ shouldn't be considered one of the "big ones," like EA or Activision.

Speaking with Industry Gamers, the CEO feels just because the firm doesn't have the resources and cash flow as some of the larger firm, doesn't mean it is any less of a contender.

"We certainly think of ourselves as one of the big ones," said Farrell. "We had the top selling game in March with Homefront. ...There was a time, 'Oh my gosh, THQ! You’re launching Homefront in March. It’s so crowded. You’ve got Crisis, you’ve got dadadadada...' We were number one. We crushed the competition here and in the UK. and in other markets that we track.

"So our goal is to have great products, pick our spots, where we can compete and win. We talked about how we’re going to do that with Saints Row: The Third later this year. So it’s picking your spots, having great games from great creators, and it’s not about numbers of products - it’s about bringing great products to market, marketing them as we did with Homefront and as we intend to do with the rest of these games. So when we can compete, we win.

IG reports that Activision and Electronic Arts have market caps of $12.93 billion and $7.73 billion, respectively, compared THQ's $279.3 million which is part of the company's strategy of quality over quantity.

"I think the way we like to think about this is, we undertook a brand new strategy two years ago and turned the company around in 2010," offered Farrell. "Last year was kind of the quiet year for us, we didn’t release a lot of products, and now we’ve got a pipeline that I think our competitors would be envious of. So I’m a competitor, I love to compete, and we intend to compete and win."

Games in the pipeline for THQ, other than Saints Row, include: inSane, Devil’s Third, Darksiders 2, Metro: Last Light, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, Dark Millennium Online, Patrice Desilets’ new IP, and new offerings from WWE and UFC.