Last month, the long-awaited Titan Quest 2 arrived in early access on PC, and according to THQ Nordic, it sold 300,000 copies in just its first three days. While reacting to that news, former THQ vice president of studio operations Richard Browne shared a few of the reasons why Titan Quest 2 wasn’t released almost two decades ago.
On LinkedIn (via Game World Observer), Browne noted that THQ had given the greenlight for the sequel in 2006. However, the development team at Iron Lore Entertainment couldn’t get past THQ’s marketing department, which rejected the proof-of-concept demo.
“[Titan Quest] was one of those games that just sold and sold; but our marketing department didn’t see it,” wrote Browne. “We had a great 360 demo with the camera lower and controlled–they nixed it using ‘Emsense’ to show that the demo (three months work) didn’t resonate.”
Emsense utilized sensors that monitored players’ heart rate, breath rate, and other factors to measure their response to a given product. Because Titan Quest 2 didn’t get a favorable response through Emsense, that was one of the justifications for shelving the project.
Browne also mentioned that the marketing team wasn’t eager to work with the game’s lead designer, Brian Sullivan, whom they considered as “not being PR friendly.”
“Brian was great,” recalled Browne. “He [was just] a khaki shorts, black socks, and loafers kinda [guy] and that made their job hard.”
Titan Quest 2 eventually ended up in development under Grimlore Games for THQ Nordic. The sequel is currently only available on PC during its early access period. But the game will eventually be released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S as well.
