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THQ Creates New Next-Gen Incinerator Studio

Major publisher THQ Inc has announced the formation of its new development studio, Incinerator Games, based in Carlsbad, Calif. and staffed with ex-Sony and Rockstar staff, to work on next-gen game versions of Pixar's Cars.

Simon Carless, Blogger

July 18, 2006

1 Min Read
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Major publisher THQ Inc has announced the formation of its new development team, Incinerator Games, the latest addition to THQ's still-growing internal studio system, and based in Carlsbad, Calif. According to the company, Incinerator is comprised of veterans of the Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show projects from Sony's 989 studios, as well as the Midnight Club franchise from Rockstar, and Incinerator is primarily focused on development for next generation consoles. Alongside this announcement, THQ revealed that Incinerator is currently working on next-generation console versions of Disney/Pixar's Cars. The game is scheduled for release on the Xbox 360 and Wii this fall, and the team is also working on future projects for next generation systems. Interestingly, THQ's Cars game for current-gen consoles was a particularly big success for the company in the June NPD game charts, helping THQ revenues leap an astounding 233 percent over the previous year, and 29 percent from last June. With 600,000 units of Cars sold in North America alone in June, this shows why a separate next-gen SKU may make sense for the company, which is continuing to expand its internal studios by opening in new locations, with the recently-formed New York-based Kaos, staffed by ex-DICE employees, another good example. "The addition of Incinerator Games is another example of our dedication to enhance and expand our internal development capabilities," said Jack Sorensen, executive vice president of worldwide studios, THQ. "We're really excited to see the Incinerator team begin to bring its own ideas for next generation development to THQ."

About the Author

Simon Carless

Blogger

Simon Carless is the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and creator of the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter. He consults with a number of PC/console publishers and developers, and was previously most known for his role helping to shape the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Conference for many years.

He is also an investor and advisor to UK indie game publisher No More Robots (Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw), a previous publisher and editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and sits on the board of the Video Game History Foundation.

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