THQ insists it now rivals EA, Activision

Once considered a second tier publisher, THQ now sees itself as a major player following the success of its Homefront FPS, so says CEO Brian Farrell.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, Farrell insisted that the publisher is now on a level pegging with heavyweights like EA and Activision.

"We certainly think of ourselves as one of the big ones," he said.

Farrell cited Homefront's performance as proof, stating that the shooter's success is emblematic of the publisher's recent growth in stature.

"We had the top selling game in March with Homefront," he explained.

"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."

He added that any publisher would be happy to boast THQ's upcoming release slate – which includes Saints Row: The Third, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, Darksiders 2 and Devil's Third.

"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.

"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."

Homefront launched back in March to so-so reviews but strong sales, shifting a million copies in its first week on shelves.