THQ: Montreal studio is safe but there may be "empty seats"

In spite of THQ's recent financial crisis, the company's newly appointed president Jason Rubin is confident the fate of its Montreal studio, formed in 2009, isn't going to be the same as its recently closed San Diego studio.

Rubin addressed the concern over the future of the studio during an E3 interview with Joystiq.

"I think the decision needs to be made which projects we can do, what we can afford to do, and stick to it. Even though THQ Montreal's space may be bigger than what we need right now, there's nothing about that space that prevents us from succeeding," he said.

Being able to execute the planned 400-person contract for the outfit is a different matter, however.

"There may be empty seats," Rubin conceeded. "I'm not saying that we wouldn't fulfill our obligations. But assuming for a moment that we don't reach whatever our contractual obligations are, there are very specific clauses in the contract that say what would happen. And I've read the contract, I've gone over it, it was one of the things I did before starting. And there's nothing about the contract or our failing under that contract that would cause the company to fail."

Rubin assured that THQ remains committed to its Montreal studio and its agreements with the Canadian government.

"I love Montreal. I definitely wanna do right by Montreal, and I definitely want to fill that studio. But having said that, if we fail to do that for any reason, that's not going to be a cause for failure for the company."

THQ's Montreal studio is confirmed to be co-developing a sequel to Homefront and an unannounced project which is being overlooked by ex-Assassin's Creed creative lead Patrice Désilets.