Building on its relationships established with local Chinese developers and publishers over the past several years, THQ’s new Shanghai office will spearhead the expansion of local partnerships to develop and publish both online and packaged games for distribution in China and around the world.
Later this fiscal year, the company plans to launch Company of Heroes® Online, a free to play, micro-transaction game designed specifically for Asia, in collaboration with its China publishing partner Shanda Interactive Entertainment, Ltd.
“The Asian markets represent a significant growth opportunity for THQ, particularly as we execute on our strategy to grow revenue from online gaming, an increasingly important segment for our industry,” said Martin Good, senior vice president THQ Asia Pacific. ‘We look forward to continuing to build new publishing and development relationships in China to expand our presence in this important and fast growing gaming market.”
Tim Page, market development director for Asia Pacific, THQ, will lead efforts to expand THQ’s online gaming portfolio by establishing and maintaining local publishing partnerships as well as bringing THQ online content to other markets around the world. Page’s extensive experience includes more than 12 years in the games industry both in and across Asia Pacific. Over the past few years, he has been driving THQ’s online strategy for Asia, building successful partnerships and sourcing new online products, many of which are yet to be announced.
“We view our China initiative as an integral part of our greater Asia online strategy and Tim Page brings tremendous experience to drive our success in this area,” said Good. “THQ China will be a springboard from which to expand our online games content, including Company of Heroes Online, to neighboring markets across Asia.”
Kevin Chu, corporate director of THQ’s External Development Group (XDG), will run THQ’s global outsourcing operations and assist in local product development initiatives from Shanghai. Chu, also a veteran of the video game industry, has extensive experience training and building teams in the Asia region. His strong track record of successful co-development partnerships and distributed development projects has driven millions in cost savings, enhanced product quality and improved production efficiencies.
“Kevin has played an instrumental role in building relationships with many very talented development teams in China,” said Steve Dauterman, senior vice president of product development, THQ. “By expanding our development operations and deepening our commitment to the local market, we will accelerate our growth in Asia and at the same time improve the efficiency of our development processes worldwide.”
THQ China’s new operation is well positioned to capitalize on China’s fast growing online games market, which was valued at US$1.7 billion in 2007 and reached more than 42 million online gamers. The market is expected to grow to US$4.2 billion by 2010.