THQ's Farrell: MX Vs. ATV Alive 'Not A Successful Experiment'

THQ's efforts to attract more players -- and more resultant DLC revenues -- by offering MX vs. ATV at a reduced price point was "not a successful experiment," according to CEO Brian Farrell. Speaking in a Gamasutra-attended conference call accompanying the company's recent earnings statement, Farrell told investors and analysts the game was an attempt to "take some of our learnings from the free-to-play market and apply them to the console world." But while the lower $39.99 price point "gave us good acceleration of sales, it just wasn't enough to drive the installed base to what we wanted to do," he said. "Our takeaway there is it's not a great model in the console market because with the high fixed cost of goods in the current console model, you can't get the price point low enough to drive that installed base for the client out there to drive the DLC," he said. Calling the effort a "noble experiment," Farrell predicted continuing steady sales for Alive on store shelves, even though "it just wasn't where we needed it to be to have the model work." In comments made last November, Farrell said a post-launch drop to a $39.99 price point had helped drive continued sales for previous MX vs. ATV titles, and that launching at that level would help pump up initial sales for Alive. "We think this is the future of gaming," he said at the time. "We think that's the way games are going to go in the long term."