No Blizzard at E3 '09

To all those fantasising about being able to play Diablo III and/or Starcraft II deep in the heart of a resurgent Electronic Entertainment Expo, stop, reports Gamespot.

Today, reps confirmed to GameSpot that, despite the presence of its parent corporation, Activision Blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment will not be present when the Los Angeles Convention Centre opens its doors from 2-4 June.

"A lot of people saw Activision Blizzard listed on E3 and just assumed we were going, but that's not the case," a representative said, before confirming Activision Publishing would be there.

In his latest industry note, Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald talked about video game publishers' prospects in 2009, states Game Daily.

With the economy continuing its downward spiral, Greenwald said the $59.99 price point for software could be in danger.

"To us, the biggest risk facing all publishers is the demise of $59.99 pricing for front-line 360 and PS3 software titles.”

Saint's Row publisher THQ is to lay off 600 staff, around 24% of its workforce, in a bid to reduce spending by $220 million in the next fiscal year, says Gamesindustry.biz.

The redundancies come as the company posted a massive $191.8 million loss for the third quarter ended 31 December, with sales dropping 30% to $357.3 million.

"We delivered high quality games to market this holiday season, but fell short of our revenue and profit targets in this challenging environment," offered Brian Farrell, president of THQ.