Del Toro making "Lovecraftian" game

Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro is working with publisher THQ to create a "Lovecraftian" horror game.

Confirmation comes from the man himself.

But it looks like we're in for quite a wait before we see the fruits of the partnership: del Toro told MTV Multiplayer the game won't be released until 2013 at the earliest.

"We're working together," he said. "Hopefully everything will come together in the next few days and we can formally announce it and so forth. But we are talking about huge games, huge world creation and long deadlines.

"With THQ we're looking at around a three year developing deadline for each game. Big games. More details forthcoming, but we are truly exploring them in a serious manner. Expect the first game, best case scenario, 2013."

Apparently in 2006 del Toro tried to pitch a game called Sundown, which was similar to Valve's cooperative zombie shooter Left 4 Dead – a game the director is "addicted to" and considers a "family game".

But Sundown isn't the game he's working on with THQ. "I pitched another game that was not developed. That's the same one I pitched [to THQ]. They took to it immediately. More details forthcoming. I don't want to say everything because we're going to announce it soon. But again, long deadline.

"It's horror...but it's a very different type of horror game. It's not survival horror. It's truly a strange, geeky mix. It's a Lovecraftian thing. Let's leave it at that."

Confirmation of the del Toro/THQ collaboration comes as no surprise given the rumours of the last few months.

What's interesting is the suggestion the game is a third-person RPG in development at Saints Row and Red Faction creator Volition.

Last month THQ core boss Danny Bilson told Eurogamer: "If we were to do a game with Guillermo and Volition, I would really support that in a big way, personally. But we're not announcing anything yet. I'm not telling you what type of game it is or anything like that, if we were to do something."