How do the console wars affect THQ?
When we look at the business, we want to know how big the pie is. The more intense the competition, the better it is for us. This is like the gold rush of ’49, and we’re supplying the gold pans. We’ve been pretty steadfast in our belief that that Sony [PlayStation] will get around 50% of that market. And so far, we’ve been right. That means there’s another 50% for Microsoft and Nintendo to carve up. How that breaks out doesn’t matter that much to us. Q: Your strategy to date has been to leverage partnerships with brand-name media companies such as Nickelodeon. Why is that important for THQ? A: A key part of our business is brand management. The partnership with Nickelodeon has allowed us to do a number of things. For example, we’ve done $250 million [in sales] on Rugrats [a Nickelodeon cartoon franchise] over the last several years. Now we’re doing the same thing with new franchises such as SpongeBob SquarePants and another new franchise called Fairly OddParents that has been tracking
