Big Huge Games Shifts Ownership, Focus

Local computer game designer Big Huge Games is undergoing some big, huge changes.

First, the 100-person outfit is giving up its independent status after accepting an acquisition offer last week from THQ, a major game publisher in California.

Second, the Timonium, Md., studio has turned to developing games for hot-selling consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, even though the firm made its fame designing titles for the personal computer.

Big Huge is best known for Age of Empires, a critically acclaimed hit in the genre of "real-time strategy" PC games, in which players manage armies and cities and steer the course of societies.

But games in this genre have never been big sellers on video game consoles. That's because developers have found it tough to make the keyboard-based controls translate well to the buttons and triggers on, say, a PlayStation controller. In recent years, console games have eclipsed their PC counterparts in popularity, drawing most of market's attention and money.

"PC gaming is going through a tough patch and has been for a long time," said Jack Sorenson, executive vice president of THQ. He said that Big Huge's move from computer games to console games "clearly was a big transition for them" but that he has been impressed by the ideas Big Huge is bringing to its two console game projects.

THQ is best known among gamers for its games tied to TV shows and movies. The company has rights to make "SpongeBob SquarePants" games through a deal with Nickelodeon and games based on the movie "Cars" through a deal with Disney-Pixar. The publisher has also enjoyed success with a line of pro-wrestling games based on World Wrestling Entertainment.

Consolidation has been a theme in the industry, and this isn't the first time a Washington-area game studio has been snapped up. Hunt Valley-based Firaxis Games was bought in 2005 by Take Two Interactive Software, and Fairfax-based Mythic was acquired in 2006 by Electronic Arts.

Big Huge Games was founded in 2000 by designer Brian Reynolds and other industry veterans who had worked at Firaxis, best known for its PC game Civilization.

Reynolds said merger talks began after THQ showed enthusiasm for publishing the two console games that his studio has in the works. Neither THQ nor Big Huge would reveal details about the games.

Big Huge will operate as a subsidiary of THQ and keep its brand name. The move will give Reynolds's studio access to the financial resources it needs to make its games better, he said.

"Games these days cost a lot of money to make," he said.

But it may be a while before gamers see what the company is up to; its two console-based projects are not expected to be released until next year, or later.

-- Mike Musgrove