The case has been going on since 2009, when the band filed a suit against the publisher over Band Hero players being able to use band members’ images in songs not its own.

The band said this turned them into a “virtual karaoke circus act”.

That said, we did get a bit of a tease back in May, although the lack of a hoped-for E3 reveal suggests someone might have been yanking our chains.

The last Prince of Persia games were a 2008 effort for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which rebooted the series again following waning mid-2000′s success, and The Forgotten Sands, a 20120 multi-platform affair ignoring the second reboot and tying in with the Hollywood film.

It’s not clear how far along the first game’s production was; no assets were ever released to the public, and both del Toro and developer Volition have been working on other projects. In late 2011, del Toro said the first game was probably two or three years away, and described what sounded like a pre-production set up.

This is the second high profile collaboration cancelled in as many conference calls; last quarter, THQ dropped Tomonubu Itagaki’s Devil’s Third.
THQ also broke with industry trend to cancel mobile and social games; a breakdown of the company’s revenue streams showed “wireless” bringing in just 1.1% of all sales, a small year on year increase from 0.5% in 2011.

“We have also stopped development for certain areas that are not productive for our new strategy. Consistent with this vision, THQ has made a few changes to previously announced projects. First, we made the determination not to pursue any casual Facebook games,” Rubin said.

In a press release, CEO Brian Farrell made much of THQ’s management shift.

“We have made significant progress reshaping the company. With the changes implemented over the last several months, we are in a much better position today to deliver on our pipeline of games, beginning with Darksiders II, which launches next week in North America,” he said.
“We are also pleased to have new management on board at THQ, led by President Jason Rubin, who brings tremendous experience to the company and has a proven track record of bringing multi- million unit sellers to market; Jason Kay, a fifteen-year media and entertainment industry veteran, as Chief Strategy Officer; and Ron Moravek, a seasoned creative development executive who has co- founded and led several technology businesses, including one of our most successful studios, Relic Entertainment, as EVP, Production.

Jason Rubin and his new team bring an entrepreneurial approach to our game slate as we seek to maximize the value of our intellectual properties and evolve our business in the face of our increasingly digital future.”

The publisher also crowed over its upcoming release slate, as listed in the side bar, noting that despite not fronting a booth this year, it scored 29 awards and 67 nominations at E3 2012.