Those that have been quick to close the curtain on THQ might have acted a bit too hasty. THQ has announced its preliminary Q4 results, and surprise, surprise, they are far better than the projected $130 to $150 million that the company predicted. Instead, the company raked in net sales of $160 to $170 million, with the exact number to be announced once the books are balanced.

The credit for the strong sales goes to Saints Row: The Third, which has shipped more than 4+ million copies worldwide, and has had exceptional downloadable content sales that were also ahead of projections.

Besides Saints Row: The Third, THQ was also helped with much better than expected sales of UFC Undisputed 3. While THQ has not released exact numbers for UFC Undisputed 3, the decision to go with an every other year release with the franchise appears to be the right decision.

The news has given THQ stock a bit of a surge, so don’t put a nail in THQ’s coffin just yet. With the aggressive cuts, scaling back and elimination of the release of some titles, if they stay on track THQ just might be able to remain in the game, which is good news for fans of the franchises that they publish.