THQ mobile shake up leaves 100 staffers without jobs

by Jason Dobson on Jan 31st 2009 1:30PM

True to its word, THQ downsized its wireless division. According to THQ's Brian Farrell, the realignment will see the company "focus only on games for high-end handheld devices," sending around a hundred of its mobile phone staff to the unemployment line.

The company stated plans to "restructure" its European wireless subsidiary earlier this week, though Moconews reports that THQ has also shuttered is San Diego mobile studio in addition to its wireless offices in both the UK and Germany. For now, the company's Universomo studio in Finland will be the hub for THQ's wireless efforts, promising that iPhone users will have all the Worms they can handle for the foreseeable future.

[Via VG247]

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Tags: brian-ferrell, europe, germany, iphone, layoff, layoffs, mobile, mobile-phone, mobilephone, san-diego, thq, uk, wireless

Reader Comments (7)

*sigh* So much for the video game industry being "recession-proof." Here's hoping those let go will land new jobs soon, and that the economy will bounce back sooner rather than later.

Mobile games aren't really part of the "games" industry.

@Tiptup300

I'd say you're very wrong. According to EA's last financial report, their wireless games division sold more than both Wii and PSP platforms.

Pundits continue to underestimate this current economic crisis and want to gloat about the recession proof game industry. In the last month I have seen more closures than in the previous year.

Joystiq is seriously starting to become depressing. The game industry is recession proof in the sense that people will continue to buy video games, it isn't recession proof in the sense that people won't lose their jobs. The worst part is I have a feeling there aren't a lot of video game companies looking to hire.