End of the world, for THQ?

[Thorazine]

It doesn't seem like 2012 has been that great a year for a small number of game companies as Layoffs hit companies like Zynga (Facebook games and iPhone apps), LightBox Interactive (Starhawk), id Software (Doom, Rage), and Obsidian Entertainment (Alpha Protocol, Neverwinter Nights 2), and studio closings like 38 studios and Big Huge Games (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning), Paragon Studios (City of Heros), Psygnosis (Wipeout), Radical Entertainment (Prototype), and Zipper Interactive (SOCOM). 2013 isn't off to a great start either as the developer and publisher, THQ, has been auctioned off just over one month after filing a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

 

It's possible to say that THQ's woes started over a year ago when they miscalculated the demand for their uDraw tablet peripheral on the 360/PS3 after its success on the Wii, leaving them with about 1.4 million unsold tablets, and down $30 million. By the End of January 2012, THQ was threatened with NASDAQ delisting as their stock started falling to less than $1.00 per share, and just managing to raise their stock price above $1.00 per share by July, moving them off the NASDAQ watch list. THQ's fiscal 2013 second quarter call in November was no better as Darsiders 2 (released in August) had "underperformed", and was filled with delays of their biggest titles (South Park, Company of Heros 2, Metro: Last light).

 

By December, THQ filed for bankruptcy, while securing Clearlake Capital Group as a "Stalking horse bidder", a move that could've possibly saved the company without the loss of most of its properties and assets. Not long after, creditors started filing complaints that THQ was trying to "railroad" a deal while ignoring any other potential buyers. By January 7th, a judge held up the Clearlake deal as to allow other publishers a shot at bidding for individual THQ properties, the auction being scheduled for the 22nd of January.

 

The current known results of the auction (as of the writing of this post) are as follows:

-Koch Media (parent company of Deep Silver; Dead Island) has acquired Volition Inc. ($22.3 million bid, probably included the Saints Row brand), along with Metro ($5.8 Million bid).

 

-For $26 million, Sega looks to take Relic Entertainment, the current developers of Company of Heros.

 

-Crytek grabbed Homefront for $500K (yay?)

 

-Take-Two Interactive relieved Turtle Rock Studios of "Evolve" for $11 Million (beating Turtle Rock Studios bid of $250k)

 

-Ubisoft has purchased THQ's Montreal Studio for $2.5 Million, and by extension South Park: The Stick of Truth. It's interesting to note that South Park Studios has previously filed a complaint about its contract with THQ, saying a new owner cannot be found without the approval of South Park Studios. Another interesting note is that Patrice Désilets, the creative director of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time, and Assassin's Creed left Ubisoft and was picked up by THQ in 2010 to help build the THQ Montreal Studio. It's currently unknown if he will stay with the studio now that it is under the control of Ubisoft.

 

-Vigil Entertainment (Darksiders) currently has no bids.

 

What does this all mean? Guess we'll see sooner or later.

 

Sources: giantbomb.com, DDInvesting, Kotaku

 

I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time.

[Strelky]

Well that really sucks, many of my favourite games are THQ... I guess too many people just buy the shitty modern shooters and don't pay any attention to the truly good games out there

[Guest Lady Luck]

thq is still alive just 80% of their asset is going bankrupt like they still got paid from WWE and Warhammer franchise so they still going , if warhammer and wwe dies thq dies.

[Thorazine]

thq is still alive just 80% of their asset is going bankrupt like they still got paid from WWE and Warhammer franchise so they still going ' date=' if warhammer and wwe dies thq dies.

[/quote']

 

THQ's primary staff is gone, leaving only a small crew to handle the transitions, and any possible liquidations.

 

Supposedly a quote from Wresting Observer (Can't check validity as the site requires a $10.00/month subscription fee):

 

"Well, nothing official. Officially, nothing was said publicly, for a variety of reasons regarding the WWE video game license, although it will be very soon.

 

There is a deal in place but all the paperwork hasn't been completed. It is not with EA."

 

And rumor has it, there were negotiations with a prominent sports game publisher, possibly 2K Sports.

 

As for the Warhammer 40K license, I haven't heard anything "official", unless it's going back to Games Workshop, it's possible Relic will keep the license (despite the fact that Vigil was previously given the reigns to develop a Warhammer MMO called Dark Millennium, when layoffs hit Vigil and Relic, it was stated that it was being retooled as a "single-player-focused adventure", and would contain a not very massive multiplayer function. It is not known if the game is fully dead).

 

So far, it looks like all THQ has left is Vigil. I'm inferring from what other people said, that they think the relatively recent release of Darksiders II makes the studio a little too hot to touch right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a deal already in place.

[pepecristo]

Well, domgar, sorry to take you from the Denial phase so abruptly, but THQ is dead.

 

WWE has gone to Take-2, which has apparently been sold separately from the auction, and while the WH 40k license is kinda "in the air", SEGA has bought Relic, the developer of all the WH 40k titles THQ published, and is very likely Games Workshop will give SEGA the license from now on.

 

Also, THQ will close off all offices except for the headquarters, which will be staffed by a mere 26 employees.

 

Edit: Vigil is over. Dead. The lead combat designer made a post on Neogaf describing how empty the office is and how everyone is out of a job. It seems (of all people!) Platinum has some interest in hiring a bunch of Vigil employees, but that's it. Noone made a bid on them, the studio is kaput, so long Vigil.

As for the DakrSiders IP, it was not part of the sale (only "active" -active as in with titles in development- IPs were put up for auction).

[Thorazine]

Edit: Vigil is over. Dead. The lead combat designer made a post on Neogaf describing how empty the office is and how everyone is out of a job. It seems (of all people!) Platinum has some interest in hiring a bunch of Vigil employees' date=' but that's it. Noone made a bid on them, the studio is kaput, so long Vigil.

As for the DakrSiders IP, it was not part of the sale (only "active" -active as in with titles in development- IPs were put up for auction).

[/quote']

 

Ah, ok, closing the studio outright makes sense. Wonder if anyone will eventually acquire Darksiders. And Platinum? Seriously? Well, even if they don't end up there, I hope things turn out well for them.

[Veta]

I am happy that deep silver got volition , I know Saints row isn't everyone's favorite franchise but I still enjoy it ,also if Dead island Riptide has taught us anything is that they wont try to censor the adult themes.

[Guest Lady Luck]

Well' date=' domgar, sorry to take you from the Denial phase so abruptly, but THQ is dead.

 

WWE has gone to Take-2, which has apparently been sold separately from the auction, and while the WH 40k license is kinda "in the air", SEGA has bought Relic, the developer of all the WH 40k titles THQ published, and is very likely Games Workshop will give SEGA the license from now on.

 

Also, THQ will close off all offices except for the headquarters, which will be staffed by a mere 26 employees.

 

Edit: Vigil is over. Dead. The lead combat designer made a post on Neogaf describing how empty the office is and how everyone is out of a job. It seems (of all people!) Platinum has some interest in hiring a bunch of Vigil employees, but that's it. Noone made a bid on them, the studio is kaput, so long Vigil.

As for the DakrSiders IP, it was not part of the sale (only "active" -active as in with titles in development- IPs were put up for auction).

[/quote']

 

whaddya know that sources over joystiq.com is stupid then thanks for noting me on that.

[Thorazine]

Both Ubisoft and Koch Media have issued press releases confirming their purchases. Deep Silver will head the continued development on both Metro and Saints Row, and Ubisoft notes that South Park: The Stick of Truth (are people seriously looking forward to that?) is on schedule for release sometime this year.

 

IGN is reporting that Take-Two (parent company of 2K) will receive the WWE license, and an official statement is expected "soon".

 

The Tweet that just about confirms Platinum's interest of former Vigil employees. Interesting to see if anything comes from it.

[The DarkSlayer]

What about my beloved DarkSiders?

[Veta]

What about my beloved DarkSiders?

 

 

Probably platinum

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/01/24/platinum-games-considering-buying-darksiders-ip

[leddis3]

Both Ubisoft and Koch Media have issued press releases confirming their purchases. Deep Silver will head the continued development on both Metro and Saints Row

 

Are Volition being kicked to the curb then?

After what they did to Saints Row 3, I can only say good riddance if true..

[Thorazine]

Both Ubisoft and Koch Media have issued press releases confirming their purchases. Deep Silver will head the continued development on both Metro and Saints Row

 

Are Volition being kicked to the curb then?

After what they did to Saints Row 3' date=' I can only say good riddance if true..

[/quote']

 

Might be too early to say, but I wouldn't be surprised if Volition gets dissolved and most of their (remaining?) employees shuffled into Deep Silver.

 

THQ president Jason Rubin confirmed that there will be a separate process to sell off its Back Catalog. No specifics on what's being included, or when exactly it will happen. Some of the other IPs, besides Darksiders, we've yet to see include Red Faction, de Blob, Destroy All Humans! and Homeworld.

[Kamen Rider Kuuga]

All I care about is Homeworld, and if it will go to a home that will ACTUALLY MAKE A NEW GAME IN THE SERIES.

[pepecristo]

The fate of Homeworld will depend on the Legacy IP sale, which will happen at a later date.

If everything goes south, there's some whackjob on Kickstarter asking for money to make a bid for the IP once the legacy sale starts.

 

For those interested in the 40k license, it seems almost confirmed that SEGA will now hold it, as Games Workshop had raised concerns to the judge previous to the sale precisely because of that, but since SEGA ended up buying Relic, and they already have the license for fantasy Warhammer, they're now saying that they'll come to an agreement with SEGA "in good faith".

RINGS FOR THE RINGS GOD

 

Personally, I doubt Volition will get dissolved, at least for now.

They were already working on the new Saints Row, and that's part of why their price was on the 20+ millions, Koch bought the studio, the IP, and all the work already done on the sequel. I'd assume they'll let them finish that instalment and THEN they're fair play.

But I guess time will tell.

[Thorazine]

It isn't often I'll sit down and read a long form article from top to bottom, but I found this one an interesting read:

 

The Guns of Navarro: THQ's Dark Night of the Soul

After 23 years and dozens upon dozens of games, Alex says goodbye to one of the industry's most intriguing publishers, and takes a long, hard look at how its former properties may prosper down the road.

 

I was very wrong about THQ. Terribly wrong. No matter how many warning signs were there, no matter how much financial turmoil and public humiliation the company went through, I still believed that someone, somehow, would save them before they went under. I never believed that about Midway, Acclaim, or any of the other publishers that have found themselves suddenly, tragically defunct over the last decade or two, and I don't necessarily have the clearest understanding of why I felt differently about THQ. The closest I can figure is that my appreciation for THQ often stemmed from the company's willingness to take weird, sometimes baffling, often interesting risks. Yes, it was one of those risks, the ill-fated uDraw tablet, that ultimately proved to be THQ's fatal, self-inflicted bullet. But over the 23 years of THQ's existence, the publisher amassed a catalog of games and franchises that rivals--at least in quality, if not financial success--those of the biggest publishers in the industry. I honestly believed it deserved better than the unceremonious divvying of its assets that ultimately came to fruition this past week. Alas, better was not destined to be.

 

Read the rest of the article here.

 

Alex Navarro: "A former GameSpot editor and former PR specialist for Harmonix. He previously worked for Whiskey Media on their movie site Screened and is currently a senior editor for Giant Bomb. Ask him about Big Rigs."

 

 

 

Edit: If you haven't seen it.

[video=youtube]