THQ: We Can't Afford To Ship South Park RPG Until It's Perfect

Matt Stone and Trey Parker are actually writing the story for the upcoming South Park RPG due out for home consoles at an unspecified date. The reason it's unspecified is because Matt and Trey, the creators of the TV series, say it won't be ready until it's perfect. Likewise, one of THQ's front-men reiterates that sentiment, saying that the company can't afford to ship the game until it's perfect.

Given THQ's public financial woes it's safe to say that this game won't be stuck in development limbo like a certain Duke Nukem Forever, however, according to an interview with Ripten, THQ's vice president Danny Bilson mentioned the following in regards to the release date of South Park RPG...

"Matt and Trey won’t ship until it’s their vision of this ultimate role playing game, where you’re the new kid in town and it’s like being in a South Park episode. Once all the pieces are together, we’ll announce a date and we’ll ship it. I can tell you from progress and process. I’ve got sections of the game that they’ve completed; they are phenomenal. If you like South Park, and I love South Park, it’s South Park! It’s incredible and it’ll absolutely be the funniest game ever made. There’s no two ways about it."

One of the reasons the game is taking a while to get finished is that it has to coincide with the work schedule of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The two writers want to make sure the game is done right, as Bilson mentions, but they also have to contend with working on the show at the very same time. Danny boy goes on to say that...

"...some of the production process ebbs and flows with their schedule. They are in the middle of a season right now, and as soon as they are done, they get back to the game, and their season takes them out for a couple of months at a time. Again, it’s like I said about Darksiders. We can’t afford to ship it until it’s perfect."

Hopefully they keep to this tactic because a solid game launch will carry the credibility (and sales) a long way for a title. Shortchanging or curb-stomping essential content into DLC packages or disc-locked portions is another easy way to forfeit the spread of positive word, just the same as having game-breaking bugs, like the now infamous Black Screen of Death.

Anyways, THQ's finances may not be up to par but the company seems to at least have a solid direction of how they plan to get their games made and out to the public. You can check out THQ's three-year plan as well as how they're approaching the release of other hard-hitting titles in the RipTen interview.

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Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.