Homefront breaks THQ pre-order records

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Kaos Studios’ Homefront has set a new pre-order record for publisher THQ, core games boss Danny Bilson has told Eurogamer.net.

According to the VP, 200,000 sales for the near-future FPS are already secured in the US market, but additional sales will be needed if a feared relocation to Montreal is to be avoided.

“I tell them [Kaos] the more successful a game is, the better the economics are for the franchise, and that will help to influence what we do,” said Bilson. “So we haven’t made any decisions at the moment. That’s the truth. We’re going to look at how it goes. We don’t want to relocate people just to relocate people.

“A lot of it has to do with how successful it is and how strong that core team comes out on the other side,” he added. “I love those guys. I’ve worked very closely with them on this game for years. There’s nothing disrespectful going on at all. We’re trying to do what’s best for everyone.”

Kaos general manager David Votypka is, however, aware of the benefits of the Montreal base.

“With the opening of the THQ Montreal studio the goal has always been to find a way to utilise that studio in future Kaos projects,” Votypka told Develop.

“Seeing as New York is not the most inexpensive location to develop games, utilising Montreal one way or another is understandable,” he added.

“We’ve submitted various shared development scenarios to THQ, each have different pros, cons, and different costs,” he said, but does not expect a decision any time soon.

Homefront will be released on March 18 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

THQ wants a slice of the lucrative FPS pie, so is backing Homefront with a strong marketing push which has already seen ads appearing on TV and online in advance of the game’s launch in a few weeks.

However, with March being packed with strong titles, success won’t come easily. Dragon Age 2 hits stores on March 11, while Top Spin 4, Yakuza 4 and MotorStorm Apocalypse arrive the same day as Homefront. A week later sees EA and Crytek’s Crysis 2 fighting for consumer attention, alongside the 3DS.