THQ has sunk a lot of time and money intoHomefront, therecently released “alternate history” shooter. Unfortunately, it seems that the effort may blow up in THQ’s face, with investors allegedly “spooked” by the game’s tepid reviews. In the wake of the critical reception, THQ stock has fallen by almost 26%.
Early reviews forHomefrontwere positive, but those writers who chose to stick to an embargo tended to paint a less enthusiastic picture. Weird how that works. The 360 version of the game currently has whatI’dcall a respectable72 Metacritic average, indicating mixed reviews ranging from 90+ (mostly early reviews) to 50 (mostly embargoed reviews). Destructoid’sown review was a 5/10.
“The game seems to resonate with consumers,” said chief executive Brian Farrell, seemingly unworried about reviews. “It’s a mass-market title. Let’s see what players think.”
Unfortunately, the “players” aren’t saying much different. Metacritic’suser reviewsrange from many tens to many zeros. Whether it’s reviewers or “players” (apparently they’re different now), opinions onHomefrontare quite divided.
THQ’s said it needs to shift two million copies ofHomefrontin order to break even, so this is a seriously big deal to the company. IfHomefrontflops, it could be a disaster for a publisher that has been doing great work recently.
Bad reviews of Homefront send THQ shares tumbling[LA Times]
