THQ split up into pieces

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 01/24/2013 09:10 AM | source: | 19 comment(s)

It's officially game over for publisher THQ. A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the beleaguered video game publisher's plan to sell its assets to several companies for $72 million, reports Bloomberg. Most notable is the acquisition of action series Saints Row and creators Volition Inc. by Koch Media, the company that owns Dead Island publisher Deep Silver. The company also snagged the rights to first-person shooter Metro: 2033 and the soon-to-be released Metro: Last Light.

French-based publisher Ubisoft confirmed in a press released it acquired THQ's Montreal studio, home to former Assassin's Creed creative director Patrice Desilets, as well as the rights to the role-playing game South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Meanwhile, Sega scooped up studio Relic Entertainment, makers of the Company of Heroes strategy series, while Crysis studio Crytek acquired the rights of military series Homefront.

The fates of Vigil Studios, developer of Darksiders, and THQ's line of WWE video games remains unclear. There are several reports the WWE license could be acquired by Take-Two Interactive's 2K label.

The split shuts the door on what was once one of the industry's top publishers. Turmoil at THQ began to surface last February, when the publisher announced the layoffs of 240 employees and cut their CEO's salary in half. Later that summer, THQ relinquished its rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) license to Electronic Arts.

THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December, claiming all its assets would be purchased by Clearlake Capital Group L.P. in a $60 million deal.

"The sale and filing are necessary next steps to complete THQ's transformation and position the company for the future, as we remain confident in our existing pipeline of games, the strength of our studios and THQ's deep bench of talent," said THQ Chairman and CEO Brian Farrell in a statement announcing the filing.

However, because the combined total of bid for its assets outweighed Clearlake's bid for the entire company, THQ's assets were broken up.

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SLI-756

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Joined: 2012-07-10

#4508633 Posted on: 01/24/2013 08:53 AM

'Most notable is the acquisition of action series Saints Row and creators Volition Inc. by Koch Media, the company that owns Dead Island publisher Deep Silver. The company also snagged the rights to first-person shooter Metro: 2033 and the soon-to-be released Metro: Last Light.

Poor 'Metro: Last Light', hopefully it's found a caring home.

dsbig
Senior Member

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Joined: 2009-03-02

#4508706 Posted on: 01/24/2013 11:50 AM

its sad though. thq no more. I will always remember them

some one should do a funeral..

ComputerGeekz
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#4508808 Posted on: 01/24/2013 03:05 PM

Sega bought COH 2! OH NO

Ryu5uzaku
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Joined: 2006-09-24

#4508818 Posted on: 01/24/2013 03:15 PM

Sega bought COH 2! OH NO

that's the best place for pc heavy dev team tbh. look at creative assembly they are doing great under sega. so i'm rather happy that sega acquired most likely warhammer 40k, coh and homeworld with relic.

Solfaur
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Joined: 2005-08-10

#4508856 Posted on: 01/24/2013 04:02 PM

This is just... /saaaadface. They made so many great games, the latest being Saints Row 3 wich I absolutely loved!

I really wonder what will happen to Vigil Games, the developers of Darksiders 1+2, apparently THQ was more than just the publisher and nobody bought them at the auction. This is so bad, Darksiders especially the second one are one of the best action/rpg games I ever played...

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