New president for THQ

THQ has appointed Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin as its new president.

Rubin, who helped establish the studio which went on to create Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted, while run THQ’s worldwide product development, marketing, and publishing operations, and will report to Brian Farrell, THQ Chairman and CEO.

He’s joined at the firm by a new Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Kay.

Kay, co-founded Flektor with Mr. Rubin and has served as an executive and advisor to companies such as Activision, Columbia House and Home Box Office during his more than seventeen years in the media and technology business. He reports to Rubin.

And it’s two in, two out: the appointments are replacements for two senior departures.

Core games EVP Danny Bilson is leaving to pursue other interests.

Dave Davis, SVP Core Studios, will be leaving too.

THQ said the shake-up "comes as THQ realigns its focus from a maker of licensed games for broad audiences to a developer of triple-A core games for multiple platforms".

Most tellingly, THQ’s official announcement describes the business as a ‘game development’ company first and foremost, which signal of intent towards how it wants to be putting its content first.

THQ has incredible internal and external game development teams, and an exciting slate of games in its development pipeline,” said Rubin.

The recent transformation of THQ into a creator of wholly-owned IP has placed it in a perfect position to leverage future trends in the game business. I look forward to working with the management team and board to realise the company’s goals.”