While speaking at a conference at MIT Business in Gaming conference Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick basically stated that THQ would be dead in the very near future. Here is Zelnick official statement:
"The most important difference is quality. Take-Two has the highest quality ratings among third-party publishers, according to Metacritic and most people in the industry. Quality really, really, really matters. THQ has had some good games, but their quality levels aren't even remotely...the quality hasn't measured up. Strategy didn't work and the execution was bad. To put it another way: the food was no good and the portions were small. THQ won't be around in six months."
THQ's vice president of corporate communications Angela Emery responded by saying:
"Obviously, Mr. Zelnicks perception of THQ is outdated and inaccurate. His comments are irresponsible and false. Perhaps he would be better off commenting on his own business.
Zelnick later did offer an apology:
"While discussing our strategy I spoke out of turn about someone elses. It was inappropriate and I regret it."
This is generally a big no-no in the corporate world, you don't talk publicly about when another company in your business is going to go under. Especially considering it might be possible for Take-Two to buy up parts of THQ if the company does fall apart; Volition (Saints Row developer) will get picked up by another publisher and I actually think that Take-Two would be a fit than either EA or Activision. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen but personally I would prefer THQ to stay alive, but if they don't then I would much rather Volition get picked up by Take-Two than any other publisher.