THQ shutting down, studios auctioned off.

[Maniacal]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/23/39...ios-sold-off-ceo-announces-in-letter-to-staff

The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative, creative, artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of what we have accomplished despite today's outcome.

It has been our privilege to work alongside the entire THQ team. While the company will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will continue under new ownership. We were hoping that the entire company would remain intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be operating as part of new organizations.

For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you take the next steps in your career.

Thank you all for your dedication and for sharing your talent with the THQ team. We wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep in touch.

RIP THQ, you weren't a bad publisher

More news to come.

Under the proposed sales Sega will purchase Relic, Koch Media will purchase Volition and Metro: Last Light, Crytek will purchase Homefront, Take 2 will purchase Evolve and Ubisoft will purchase Montreal and South Park, according to the letter provided to Polygon from former employees.

Some assets, including THQ's publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some unnamed intellectual properties, are not included in the sale agreement. THQ officials said they're still trying to find buyers for those.

Could have been worse, although I really hope Ubisoft doesn't cram some DRM or uplay garbage onto Obsidian's Stick of Truth and make it untouchable. Thankfully Metro: Last Light and Stick of Truth are only IPs published through THQ and their developers (4A and Obsidian) are not included in the sale, and Company of Heroes 2 is pretty far into development.

EDIT: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/23/thq-assets-divided/

Update: DDinvesting reports THQ auction results:
$500k Homefront (Crytek)
$26M for Relic (Sega)
$2.5M for THQ Montreal (Ubisoft)
$3.2M for South Park (Ubisoft)
$11M for Evolve (Take-Two)
$22.3M for Volition (Koch Media)
$5.8M for Metro (Koch Media)

 

[mechaerik]

Poor THQ. What did THQ Montreal do?

 

[Maniacal]

No idea, they only sold for 2.5 million too.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Does that mean we can finally get Freespace 3?
That would at least be a small consolation...

 

[Joecoolyo]

The only game series I really care about in that list is Metro, and not knowing much about Koch or Deep Silver, here's hoping they don't mess with it too much, if they do at all.

 

[PhilBowles]

Any word on whether this affects the release schedule for Company of Heroes 2, which must now be almost complete? Given how the sell-off values Relic compared with the other properties, it looks as though this and the Dawn of War titles are expected to be key releases. Odd how this seems likely to put Sega in the forefront of strategy game publishers, with one of their other high-profile properties being Creative Assembly's Total War series.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Eh, CoH2 has been free for a while now.

 

[Nintz]

Poor THQ. What did THQ Montreal do?

They were working on an unannounced project headed by Patrice Désilets, former head of Assassin's Creed.

Being back with Ubisoft should be interesting.

RIP THQ. Your games always were underrated.

 

[Maniacal]

1666 (of which nothing but the name is known) and Underdogs which I know nothing more about either.

 

[mechaerik]

The only game series I really care about in that list is Metro, and not knowing much about Koch or Deep Silver, here's hoping they don't mess with it too much, if they do at all.

Deep Silver is the publisher of Dead Island and STALKER Clear Sky.

 

[Mosher]

Clear Sky was a bit of a mess, to be fair (And Dead Island, but I haven't played it and only heard about it)

 

[Maniacal]

They only published it, same with the X series (which is fantastic).

 

[GoodGame]

Relic going to Sega is probably good news

 

[Nintz]

Wait a sec. I just realized that Vigil (Darksiders) didn't get sold. Hope those guys can find a buyer so they don't have to break up the studio and whatnot.

 

[Maniacal]

Everyone at Vigil was laid off. Seems none of the gaming companies wanted darksiders, and I don't blame them.

The reason why Crytek bought Homefront is because they were already working on Homefront 2 apparently, and now they own the IP.

 

[mechaerik]

Everyone at Vigil was laid off. Seems none of the gaming companies wanted darksiders, and I don't blame them.

Platinum Games (the creators of Bayonetta) has expressed some interest in acquiring Vigil, but only if its cheap.

 

[Maniacal]

The judge has finalized yesterday's auction. Interestingly Sega wasn't the only one looking to buy Relic:

Sega will purchase Relic for $26.6 million, with Zenimax acting as a back-up bidder at $26.3 million.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/24/3912830/judge-signs-off-on-thq-bankruptcy-sale

Vigil, developers of Darksiders, and other unnamed assets and intellectual properties will continue in the Chapter 11 process, according to the release. The company plans to continue to seek "appropriate buyers, if possible."

 

[Zack]

Everyone at Vigil was laid off. Seems none of the gaming companies wanted darksiders, and I don't blame them.

One of the uglier/stupid-looking art styles in recent memory.

 

[Maniacal]

And not exactly unique game either being a god of war-style game which are pretty common and its 'story' isn't something difficult or unique to come up with either.

 

[Nintz]

I realize that Darksiders wasn't a good-selling game, and I never played it myself so I can't actually comment on it from experience, but most critics gave Darksiders II a good score, and from what I've read it is at least decent. I just thought that, given all of that, someone would take a chance on it if it came real cheap.