THQ: Homefront will be "genre-competitive"

THQ is confident that its forthcoming shooter Homefront will be "genre-competitve" when put up against the likes of Call of Duty or Medal of Honor - but the company is maintaining a realistic outlook for what will be a new IP, and refusing to label it a "world-beater" just yet.

Speaking in an interview last month, UK head of marketing Jon Rooke admitted that the product had generated a lot of confidence and excitement within the publisher, but that he doesn't underestimate the challenge of going head-to-head with two of the biggest videogame franchises of all time.

"We have to be careful - we're very confident about the brand, but we're not going out and saying that it's going to be bigger than Modern Warfare," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "We're not going to do what maybe some of competitors do, and set themselves up to fail on that stage.

"We believe it's an absolutely fantastic product - it's going to be genre-competitive and actually stand out in a number of areas. But we're also very conscious that this is a new IP, and first time in a franchise.

"Medal of Honor, Call of Duty... those guys have been building those brands for years. We're not going to do 15 million unit sales overnight with the first game - even if the market potential is there and we spent money on it, we just wouldn't do it. You have to take time to build fans, engage consumers, give them a reason to purchase - and then keep them with it as you go to sequel iterations.

"So I wouldn't necessarily use myself the words 'It's a world-beater' - because I think that conjures up the idea that we'll be the best-selling first-person shooter game next year. We won't - because there'll be another Call of Duty, which will do that."

But Rooke is very confident that those people that sample Homefront's dark future style will be hooked - and then open to becoming a part of the player base that will take the franchise forward for the next seven years

"We'll absolutely deliver upon what THQ's goals are for the game - which is to put out that triple-A, high-Metacritic game, to engage consumers in the Homefront universe. I think that's the thing that I'm most focused on.

"Because once you're in, you're engaged - once you're in that whole 'fallen America' scenario and you're part of the resistance fighting... it's very much like when you buy into Half-Life, and City 17. You get absorbed by that, and it's the same with Homefront - we want people to be a living and breathing part of that experience.

"We know that once they've done that, they'll be ready for the next experience we give them afterwards."

The full second part of the interview with Jon Rooke - and head of sales Adam Roberts - from which this is taken is available now.