In an interview with Gamasutra, THQ has admitted that the break-even point for Obsidian's (Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas) upcoming South Park RPG — South Park: The Stick of Truth — is projected to be at 2 million units sold.
Read that again. THQ needs TWO million units sold (not shipped) of their upcoming South Park RPG just to break even. Mind you, I haven't watched South Park in a few years, so I don't really know how big the fanbase of the property is now, but 2 million is not a small number.
While I'm not hoping for the publisher and developer to fail, shouldn't they aim for a lower number seeing as this isn't an FPS and it's not exactly known to be a videogame franchise heavyhitter? For reference, THQ's multiplayer-heavy military FPS Homefront didn't exactly se the retail and critical world on fire; and that game, too, had a 2-million units sold projection. It did hit that 2-million target, but its developer (KAOS Studios) went belly-up in the process.
In saying all this, it's no secret by now that THQ is in dire straits due to bad business decisions in the past few months/years. They've already brought in former Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin to spearhead the company's turnaround, but that, obviously, will take time.
Let's hope this game's financial goals won't hinder that.
South Park: The Stick of Truth is set for release in March 2013 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
