I don’t know about you but this is really disappointing.  Full press release below.

THQ Announces Update for Warhammer® 40,000®: Dark Millennium™

Project Shifts from MMO Business Model

 

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 29, 2012– THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that it has refocused Warhammer® 40,000®: Dark Millennium™ from a Massively Multiplayer Online game to an immersive single player and online multiplayer experience with robust digital content, and engaging community features. Further product details, platforms and release timing will be announced at a later date.

 

“As previously announced, we have been actively looking for a business partner for the game as an MMO. However, based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features,” said Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ Inc. “Because we believe strongly in the high-quality and vast creative work that is in production, this is the right decision for both our portfolio and for gamers devoted to this powerful property.”

 

“We are genuinely excited about the new direction that THQ is taking with Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium, and we are sure that this will be a great addition to the ever growing stable of authentic and engaging Warhammer 40,000 video games,” said Jon Gillard, Head of Licensing for Games Workshop.

 

As a result of this change, team sizes at two THQ internal studios will be reduced by 79 full-time employees at Vigil Games in Austin, Texas, and 39 employees at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, B.C.

 

Vigil Games will continue to focus on both this game and the critically-acclaimed new title, Darksiders® II, scheduled for release this summer. Relic Entertainment continues to focus its development expertise on THQ’s franchises including Company of Heroes® and Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War®.

The Vigil developed MMO won’t have ”just one business model,” but will employ ”other monetisation mechanisms”and the team has been ”very thoughtful about how” to do it.

This could mean the western markets see a more traditional subscription charge, while Asian markets get a free-to-play model with plenty of micro transactions.

Most MMOs have tended to adopt the free-to-play philosophy eventually here in the west, as the majority that do see a spike in popularity and profit; Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Champions Online and more.

“The markets are different around the world for the business models with which you can ship an MMO,” said THQ CEO Brian Farrell during an earnings call. ”So what we’ve done is make the business model within Dark Millennium Online flexible so we can use different business models in different territories and exploit the game on a worldwide basis.”

“We will have not just one business model, like subscriptions. There will be other monetisation mechanisms in the game… The team there is being very thoughtful about how we maximise monetisation in this game.” CFO Paul Pucino reveals it is THQ’s grandest financial project to date with a minimum of $50 million pumped into it. It’s due out in 2013.

Source

THQ lets slip the *planned* release date of Dark Millennium Online

Check it out here http://www.thq.com/us/warhammer-40000-dark-millennium-online/

Tip received from Gosh in the forums

Update: ”It has come to THQ’s attention that some media are reporting that we’ve announced game details and a release date for our upcoming massively multiplayer online project, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. At this time THQ has not officially announced a release date and any reported features are pure speculation. THQ will announce confirmed game features and an official release date at a later time.”

Vigil Games, developing Darksiders(R) II and next year’s MMO Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online(TM)

For the full press release head here.

He adds that Vigil Games, the developer currently working on the MMO, has also used elements of Space Marine as influence for their title.

“In terms of some of the core mechanics, they were looking at our combat system quite carefully at one point to see if they could try and make it – not the same – but just have some level of consistency. That’s definitely been a consideration.”

Full story here.

“Next year, I promise you, next E3,” was THQ core games boss Danny Bilson’s response when Eurogamer asked him when we’ll get to play the MMO.

“I’ve already got plans for what the booth is like. The centrepiece of the booth will be that MMO.”

Little is known about the game, but Bilson said work is progressing well.

“We have the new build,” he said. “I was playing because the Games Workshop guys are in town. We took them through a little tour through a zone and some of the instances.

“It looks fabulous. I like it. I can’t speak to it now, or people will kill me. But, I’ll tell you what, it plays differently. A little bit.”

“I’m a big MMO guy. I’ve played EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, WOW, City of Heroes… I’ve sampled a lot of them. I love MMOs. This thing is gonna be special.”

Bilson said when DMO does come out it will compare favourable to MMO behemoth World of Warcraft and BioWare MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

“We’re going to come out when we come out in a big way. I feel like we’re fully competitive with the other guys,” he said.

“It’ll be seven years in the making when it comes out. We’re competing with the best games in the world. You can’t mess around with this thing.”

“We’re competing with two of the biggest brands in the world: World of Warcraft and Star Wars. We have to be really good to get people to want to play it. We will be really good.”

Bilson confirmed Dark Millennium will launch at some point during THQ’s next financial year – between April 2012 and March 2013.

Last year Bilson let slip some tentative details on the game in an interview with Eurogamer.

“If you’ve played WOW you’ll be able to pick up and play this instantly, and you’ll find all these things that feel like upgrades, in a way,” he said.

“How soon you get vehicles, how many vehicles there are in the universe. If you know 40K, you know the things in the universe. You know the races. You know things like ranged combat is going to be important for the bolters. You know the chainsword matters, and having both.

“You know being an ork is a completely different experience than being a Space Marine, and being a Space Marine alone is a very different experience than being a scout or an Imperial Guard or any of the other Imperium of Man that you’re going to see in this trailer.

“What does being an Inquisitor mean? That’s down the road somewhere. I always say too much in these things, but I get excited.

“It has a lot of the same qualities of WOW in terms of ease of use and how the interface is. I want to say that if you play WOW, you’ll be able to jump into Dark Millennium Online really easy.

“But you won’t be able to be a Space Marine right away, because that’s a very unique class, if you know the universe. The road there is a great road, and they are in the game.”

Full article here

E3 2011 Dark Millennium Online Trailer

Full Release here

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. & NOTTINGHAM, United Kingdom, Apr 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — THQ (NASDAQ:THQI) and Games Workshop (LSE:GAW.L) today announced a multi-year extension to their successful video game license agreement, extending THQ’s current exclusive rights to publish video games based on the popular Warhammer^(R) 40,000^(R) universe through titles across all relevant platforms including core, social and mobile rights.

Since entering the licensing agreement with Games Workshop, THQ has published several highly successful titles based on the intellectual property (IP), including the Warhammer^(R) 40,000^(R): Dawn of War^(R) real-time-strategy games for PC systems that have shipped 6.5 million units to date. Two fresh interpretations of the Warhammer 40,000 IP are currently in development by THQ: Warhammer^(R) 40,000^(R):Space Marine^TM- a third-person shooter for the Xbox 360^(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation^(R)3 computer entertainment system and PC set to release later this year – and Warhammer^(R) 40,000^(R) Dark Millennium^TM Online, a massively multiplayer online game exploring the deep fiction and myriad races of the IP.

“The complex, futuristic war-torn universe created by Games Workshop equipped THQ’s award-winning development teams with the material to create one of the most loved PC franchises - Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War,” said Brian Farrell, THQ President and CEO. “Our envisioning of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will continue to grow with top quality games across all platforms, including the upcoming launches of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Warhammer 40,000 Dark Millennium Online.”

“The impressive translation of the Warhammer 40,000 universe from the tabletop to the video game space by THQ certainly highlights the potential of our most successful intellectual property in the right hands,” said Mark Wells, Games Workshop CEO. “We know that the depth of the storylines, characters and imagery of the Warhammer 40,000 universepositions the IP to excel across many media platforms – and extending our agreement with THQ will help ensure that Warhammer 40,000 maintains a strong and growing presence in the video game space.”

Full release here

Full Story