January 21^st, 2003 (12:00am) - THQ today announced that it achieved the #2 independent videogame publisher ranking for the month of December 2002 according to NPD’s TRSTS Video Games Survey. Capturing a 7.3% market share, THQ was ranked the third publisher overall trailing only Nintendo and Electronic Arts.

"December results indicate that the market for video games is expanding to the mass market with the success of brands like SpongeBob SquarePants," said Brian Farrell, president and CEO, THQ. "We believe the mass market audience will continue to grow in 2003, further fueled by widely anticipated hardware price reductions in the spring."

Alison Locke, executive vice president of North American publishing, THQ, added, "THQ is well positioned to gain market share through the current videogame cycle with our portfolio of mass market brands like Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo; Scooby-Doo!; Tak and the Power of JuJu and the rest of our extensive Nickelodeon line-up; as well as releases targeting the enthusiast audience, including Alter Echo, SplashDown 2 and games based on World Wrestling Entertainment."

THQ said its strong December performance was driven by WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth for PlayStation 2, which ranked as the number 10 best-selling PlayStation 2 game for the month of December, and the success of SpongeBob SquarePants across multiple platforms. The company also continues to hold the #1 independent publisher position on Nintendo’s handheld systems. In addition, according to the NPD TRSTS Video Games Survey, THQ’s market share increased to 6.5% for the year ended December 31, 2002, up from 6.2% in 2001.

- CKT