EA interested in THQ assets - Report
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Mass Effect publisher joins Warner Bros. as potential bidder for bankrupt publisher's franchises and studios; assets will be sold piecemeal.
Mass Effect and FIFA publisher Electronic Arts has joined media giant Warner Bros. as a potential bidder for bankrupt publisher THQ's assets. Writing from inside a bankruptcy court hearing today, Distressed Debt Investing reported that not only is EA interested in THQ's franchises and studios, but the publisher "has completed site visits" as well.
An EA representative declined to comment.
It was also revealed today in the court proceedings that stalking-horse bidder Clearlake Capital Group has agreed to allow bids for individual THQ titles. Previously, the firm was only planning to accept all-or-nothing bids, something creditors and US Trustee Roberta DeAngelis took issue with.
Last week, THQ banker Sam Greene revealed there were five active potential bidders for THQ's franchises and studios. EA and Warner Bros. are the only two named thus far, though Ubisoft had previously expressed interest in the company's games, with CEO Yves Guillemot saying in November, "They have good things."
What's more, Clearlake also moved today to extend its deadline for competing bids for its $60 million offer until January 15, an extension of five days over the previous January 10 end date. However, US Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath did not approve this timeline, saying it remained too short.
Parties later in the day agreed on a January 22 auction date, during which THQ assets can be purchased individually.
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.
226 comments
Sort of a strange headline if you ask me. Yes it is news that EA is a bidder I guess, although everyone pretty much suspected it from the start. What is new to me is that essentialy there has been a bid on THQ by the Clearwater group.
Basicly what I distill out of this information and other infromation I have gotten from the holy Inet is that big developers are bidding on seperate parts of THQ. If the partial bids in total sum up to a ammount of 60 milion dollars they are forced to be sold seperatly now.
Additionaly they wanted a window extansion on the bidding. Since speed in auction is usualy an advantage for the buyers and I can only expect that the big boys know this you can safely sum up that the ammount doesnt top the 60 milion offer that Clearwater has made.
So all we can hope for is that the bigboys (who mostly have money problems themselves) wont be able to come up with the 60 milion +. In that case THQ will be sold to the Clearwater group and not much will change. Addtionaly even it gets sold by parts it doesn't have to mean any of the above named companies will get anything.
3 Like No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NOOO /o\
EA poison every fucking thing they touch, please no >_<
1 Like I can see it now... a Saint's Row pack for Dragon Age 3 that will cost $25, and all it will have is a purple shirt for your character.
I agree with you. I don't want EA to get it, but I am just HOPING that whoever does get it, that they treat it right. Again, I say I am HOPING they do, even though I know they probably won't.
The anti-EA circle jerk here is too damn high. I mean really, EA has the same goals as WB and Ubi, to make money. They just do a great job at it so they're hated.
7 Like @fightingfish18 Aren't they bleeding money like a stuck pig though? Their stock has been falling hard ever since the failure that was ToR too. EA are hated because they are terrible at everything. They alienate consumer bases, ruin good developers and great franchises and push a profits>quality agenda so transparent that they aren't even pretending to respect the people whose money sustains them. At this point all they can do is try to buy out all the competition while they are still loaded.
there is only one good thing that can come out of it- Relic to handle something Command & Conquer
@wizzzer_thy_133 Naah that would actualy improve the quality. Knowing EA they will probarly let Westwood screw over Relic.
1 Like Konami, SquareEnix, WB, anybody but Activision or EA. Hell, I'd even feel better about Capcom putting in a bid than those asses.
The decision here will decide whether I will buy Company of Heroes 2.
There's no need to buy it if you sell out to EA and every tiny map and skin pack is charged at 1/3 of the games price.
1 Like For the love of God NO!
Of all the companies i would'nt want to see buying them out..................
12 Like EA interested in THQ assets. Proceed as planned:
Step 1 - Milk every possible IP to its fullest exploiting the loyal fanbase.
Step 2 - After milking proceed to bury THQ and fire all employees associated with it.
EA should reform it's ideology before investing for the suppression of another company... Acquiring THQ won't prevent EA from sinking this year again... This idea of spreading thin never worked for them in the short, middle or long term... But hey! when you're evil and want to make your place in this new world order, you got to do what you do!
6 Like I hope its Warner Brothers, they've been publishing some of my favorite games lately. Witcher 2, Mortal Kombat, Arkham City off the top of my head.
2 Like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgZIYdFmZqc As long as EA or Activision don't get their filthy hands on Saints Row/Volition and South Park I'll be happy!
1 Like This time next year we'll be playing saints row 5 and pierce will be a day one DLC option for £4.99
18 Like Fantastic. More great studios EA can run into the ground. Excuse me while I go throw up.
5 Like Terrifying news!
Not Electronic Arts nor Activision, Ubisoft or Warner Bros are fit to buy THQ in my opinion. They would only turn the series into pieces by firstly aim their resources on cheap console ports (full of bugs and issues left unsolved for future sequel) much like with their sport-series like NHL, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Ghost Recon.
Not to mention the numerous expensive and unnecessary DLCs, which should have been released on top of a vanilla release (to make sure that the developers does not take short cuts in orders to feed their greedy publishers with unfinished games).
The only good thing about this would be they can fix their crappy UFC games since they have the sole license. I'd still rather have Warner Bros. buy them though.
14 Like Can someone please burn down the EA headquarters ? Please ? You'd be doing gaming and humanity justice.
2 Like you guys flaming EA you dont buy mass effect, portal, dragon age, dead space, FIFA, Madden, Need for Speed, Sims, Battelfield, MoH, Mirrors Edge, Crysis, Civ, etc. Its easy to blame big corporation the bigger the more complex the system works in...........
it its not as simple as you might think which might lead to some mistakes ex rushed product and whatsoever its sometimes unevitable, im not a big fan of EA either but still have some appreciation on what people are doing inside them despite their flaws or mistakes
15 Like screw this.......if im forced into using Origin for Dawn of War 3 or Company of Heroes 2 then i might just kill someone.....
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