THQ picks up Games Workshop title

THQ is to publish Focus Home Interactive’s fantasy-themed football strategy game Blood Bowl on September 18th.

The game is based on a tabletop board game created by Games Workshop, which sells Warhammer products. It mixes turn-based strategy with football, pitting teams of fantasy creatures, such as orcs and goblins, against each other.

The publisher considers itself a perfect fit for the title given its previous work on Warhammer-based games.

We already have a great understanding of the Games Workshop consumer from our years publishing the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War titles, which have now sold more than four million copies worldwide,” THQ’s head of marketing for UK and Europe Jon Rooke explained to MCV.

We plan to utilise that insight into the Games Workshop consumer to laser target our campaign and excite the Blood Bowl fans in the UK.”

The company will be using a mixture of direct mail and CRM initiatives to promote the game. This will be done through partnerships with both Games Workshop and its retail partners.

THQ will be deploying a heavyweight PR campaign, with videos already running on Gametrailers.com. Sampling is also planned, including an appearance at Gamescom.

The game has been critically acclaimed and enjoyed huge commercial success in other European markets since its release in June – most notably in France, where it was the No.2 selling title throughout July, and Germany, where it came fourth in the charts.

We’re very excited to be partnering with Focus Home Interactive to bring Blood Bowl to the UK,” Rooke said.

The UK is the home for Blood Bowl and we are confident that we will see a very similar level of success with the title on its home turf.”