THQ has been apparently thinking a lot about the revenue that it is losing to used game sales. The company plans to test a new model to address the issue with the release of MX vs ATV: Alive that is set to arrive in spring of 2011.

The new model would work by selling a scaled-down version of the game at a much cheaper price to start with. Rather than selling the title for $60, THQ might offer the game for as little as $50 or maybe even $40. After the user buys the game, they will have the option of buying a lot of different content to expand and add-on to the game.

This would address the issue of giving the consumer a cheaper up front cost, which could lead them to buy new instead of used at this reduced price. The game, of course, is playable in the form purchased, but if you want to add-on to the game, you can do that by purchasing more add-ons. If you don’t want to purchase add-ons, you don’t have to; but the add-ons are expected to offer new things to entice consumers to purchase them for download.

Some are already calling this new THQ model the a la carte model and it remains to be seen if players will want to buy a game knowing that they may have to purchase more content to get everything that they want from the title. Sources confirm to us that THQ admits openly that there is a lot that is still up in the air with this model, but it could offer a new approach that could be effective. We will have to just wait and see.