THQ has announced that closure of two Australian studios and a development team based in Phoenix. The company released a statement announcing the closures and marked them as a “strategic realignment” of its internal studios to help align resources with their future portfolio. THQ is currently in the process of moving away from licensed kids and movie titles and has also decided not to continue further development of the MX vs. ATV franchise.

Around 200 personnel will lose their jobs but will be able to apply for open positions within the company.

“With this realignment, we are narrowing our focus to high-quality owned IP with broad appeal that can be leveraged across multiple platforms, and to work with the best talent in the industry. By right-sizing our internal development capacities for our console portfolio, our five internal studios are focused on delivering high-quality games with talented teams driving the execution of those titles to market,” said THQ president Brian Farrell.

“As we have outlined in our business strategies, we are making shifts to reduce movie-based and licensed kids’ video games in our portfolio, which underscores our strategy to move away from games that will not generate strong profits in the future.

“We will continue to evaluate our capital and resources to concentrate on fast growing digital business initiatives such as social games, mobile and tablet-based digital entertainment.”