Court approves THQ sale
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Bankruptcy court grants motion to approve sale of assets totaling $100 million; company will continue to look for Vigil Games buyer.
A US bankruptcy court has granted a motion to approve the sale of THQ's assets as outlined yesterday at the close of the private auction, the company announced today. THQ expects the approval to be finalized by tomorrow, January 25.
The court approved the sale of three THQ studios (THQ Montreal, Volition Inc., and Relic Entertainment), as well as games including Evolve, Homefront 2, Metro: Last Light, and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Sales from the auction totaled around $72 million, though the total value is higher. THQ said it expects the total sale process to have generated $100 million, which includes "certain assets and other intellectual properties" excluded from the sale.
One of these assets could be the WWE license, which Grand Theft Auto parent publisher Take-Two Interactive has reportedly obtained for an undisclosed sum.
THQ also today addressed the fate of Darksiders studio Vigil Games, which did not attract a single bidder at the auction yesterday. The company said it will continue to seek a buyer for Vigil Games, and other assets and intellectual properties, as part of the Chapter 11 process.
Staff at Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games have expressed interest in the Darksiders franchise, though it is not clear if their interest is merely exploratory.
THQ executive management also commented on the news. CEO Brian Farrell said, "While we had hoped that the restructuring process would allow the company to remain intact, I am heartened that the majority of our studios and games will continue under new ownership. Although we will no longer be able to work together with a unified mission, I am confident that the talent we have assembled will continue to make an impression on the video game industry. For those whose positions are not likely to continue, I sincerely regret this outcome and we will be meeting with you over the next few days to discuss the transition."
THQ president Jason Rubin--who was hired just eight months ago--also gave a farewell address, saying he wished the result could have been different.
"I was brought in eight months ago to help turn this ship around, and while I'm disappointed that we could not effect a sale for the entire operating business, I am pleased that the new buyers will be providing jobs to many of our very talented personnel," Rubin said. "When we first announced the sale process, I said I would be happy if the company's games and people had a bright future, even if it meant I did not have a job at the end of it. And I still feel that way."
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
81 comments
you know from 8 bit era till now...god damn...now who is going to make Warhammer games?
combine bad luck with past problematic past buisness decisions that kept haunting it
2 Like A brief run down of who bought what, not sure how acurate this is, it's from another site
"It looks like Sega will be acquiring Relic Studios, Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro, Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront, Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve, and Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park as part of the THQ sale"
Sega now have Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K, with Creative Assembly (total war series) and Relic (CoH and Dawn of War) good things could be coming for the Warhammer IP's. I don't have any worries about the CoH IP now either :)
Hopefully Metro will see a release on or around it's anticipated schedule.
Homefront may improve under the guidance of Crytek, god knows it needs to but I'll wait and see for this.
Take 2 taking Evolve is almost the same as staying with THQ
What Unisoft will do with THQ Montreal is anyones guess.
Metro, Saints Row, and Warhammer 40k/Company of Heroes were the only ones I cared about.
Darksiders has potential but honestly I don't think it will ever be reached under Vigil. They completely ignored the feedback and reviews from the first game and blatantly lied about features in Darksiders 2, specifically the weapon types. My heart sank when I realized there was ultimately 3-4 movesets in the ENTIRE game. Dual Scythes, any big weapon, any fist weapon, and the reaper mode kind of.
IMO Zenimax (Bethseda parent company) would be a good fit for Vigil.
I can't believe not a single person bought them/the IP, I mean boht games were pretty good imo.
sum1 better pik up vigil games, luv darksiders esp 2. There also working on another game i herd so itll be a terible waste IMO
How about the uDraw? I read some articles saying the failure of this peripheral was one of the biggest reasons of the THQ fall.
5 Like I just have to add my two cents. I'm really dismayed by the fact no other publisher sees value in the Darksiders brand. With a more stable publisher and a better focus Darksiders can be the Zelda game for people who actually don't like Zelda games, or at least a good alternative. I hope the folks at Vigil land on their feet and someone swoops in and picks up this IP, because it would be such a waste.
2 Like I am really disappoined that Darksidres was left without a single bid. Am I the only one who loves both Darksiders!? In my opinion, those two games were the best action games of this generation. Platinum Games would be a great place to go for the franchise, hope this news is true.
@Greyden @thequickshooter Apparently, Company of Heroes 2 is ready to be released... I think Sega will have a good fiscal year:)
3 Like While THQ might not be as successful as it's rivals, it's one of rare publisher that have more interest in supporting new game ideas, rather than same old money grabbing formula business scheme. It's sad that it didn't payoff for them. You will be missed, THQ.
PS : Someone buy Homeworld series please! Hey Sega!
@Bakaro Homefront was bought by Crytek, which means the second game will probably be distributed by Electronic Arts.
@expeditopaz2008 @Bakaro
You are mistaken. I was referring to Homeworld, an awesome Space-RTS series that deserve sequel.
3 Like It's a shame about Vigil. I thought they made a huge improvement from the first Darksiders to its sequel, and the first one wasn't a bad game. I'm happy Metro and South Park have been bought. I was really looking forward to getting them.
3 Like Jason Rubin gave some reasons why no one bid on Vigil, but you gotta think someone will eventually pick it up:
"I failed to find Vigil a home. Having just finished a product, Vigil was farthest from release of their next game, and we were not able to garner any interest from buyers, despite a herculean effort. Additionally, they were working on a new IP, which meant even more risk for a buyer. "
@superjenius Plus Vigil Games is so far a one-trick pony, and a pretty niche one-trick pony at that. Darksiders can be considered successful, but by no means a AAA blockbuster. There was no major upswing with Darksiders 2, just a stable "good as the first game but that's it". With nothing else to show, I wouldn't buy their company or the franchise either.
2 Like @superjenius It's really a lot less complicated than that... Nobody cares about Darksiders =/
1 Like Damn... Why no one shows interest in Vigil baffles me... Despite not being the highest seller, Darksiders as a franchise has created quite a following. True, current sales are slightly over 1M units for the second installment, and that can be considered a disappointment, but one of the biggest problems THQ has had in my opinion is visibility... Im sure the spent loads of money in marketing, but I think that some people miss the title because they consider it too "God of War related" and not an original concept.
Here goes for a last minute buyer... Please, rescue Vigil!
4 Like Come on, somebody has to buy Vigil. They're a talented development studio with a good franchise under their belts.
i dont know why but i still got A feeling that some one would pick vigil up at the end of the day...
its dArKsIdErS afterall...
i mean come,on it has a lot of potential,,,like any one who played with war and death would definitely pick the next installment featuring one of the remaining two brothers as protagnists or featuring all 4 brothers in a 4 player co,op if doesnt hurt the individual experience...
3 Like perhaps vigil's starting bid was too rich, im sure someone will buy them out eventually
@jtthegame316 Problem is people are still buying EA games like crazy. Means they are doing something right...
A good interview with Jason Rubin below. It sounds like the Clearlake sale would have kept the whole company together and maybe not resulted in closure of more studios. The courts chose to auction off company piecemeal instead to get more money for creditors.
4 Like Not a single bid for the developers of Darksiders? Hell, I'll pay $20 bucks for it. It's better than nothing THQ!
It's nice to see fan solidarity around a game/studio for once. No hate comments, just mourning. Such a shame. That "tree of life' song made me realise how zen Darksiders 2 is.
This thread looks like a funeral actually, that's how sad news this is.
@Keaze_ Agreed. I was really hoping they would stay around long enough to fix some of the PC bugs in DS2. I love the console game, but have always preferred PC versions when ported properly. Hopefully someone will buy them so that they can continue to put out awesome games.
wow just found out darksiders had a season pass. talk about 30 bucks wasted as i doubt any dlc will come out now :(
3 Like The problem with Vigil is that the guy who created Darksiders left the company a few months before the bankruptcy. Maybe he knew? Anyway, that's my understanding and probably why it's not worth much.
@jcknapier711 This may be true, but a large number of the Darksiders team was still on board. Even the creative aspect of game development isn't exactly a one-person job.
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