Bankruptcy Auction Ends THQ

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Bankruptcy Auction Ends THQ


Ubisoft, Take-Two, Koch Media and others have all claimed pieces of THQ.

Hopes of keeping THQ intact and functioning have come to an end, as the bankruptcy auction that began yesterday has resulted in the company being broken up and sold off in pieces. According to Distressed Debt Investing, which has been following the THQ bankruptcy process, the company's studios and IPs were sold as follows:


Relic - purchased by Sega for $26 million
Volition - purchased by Koch Media for $22.3 million
Evolve (IP) - purchased by Take-Two for $11 million
Metro (IP) - purchased by Koch Media for $5.8 million
South Park (IP) - purchased by Ubisoft for $3.2 million
THQ Montreal - purchased by Ubisoft for $2.5 million
Homefront (IP) - purchased by Crytek for $500,000


In a letter to THQ employees, CEO Brian Farrell and President Jason Rubin said they expected that most employees of sold properties will be offered jobs by their new owners but warned that not everyone will be picked up and that the terms of employment for those that are may well be different. Employees of entities that are not part of the sale will be laid off. Among those assets are Darksiders studio Vigil Games and "some other intellectual properties."

"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," the letter states. "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."

Source: Distressed Debt Investing [http://kotaku.com/5978429/this-is-the-letter-that-thq-sent-to-employees-today] (Twitter)



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Erttheking

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It is at this moment that I realized that I don't know any of the games that THQ owns, bar Metro 2033.

Still, respects must be paid.

 
Oct 2, 2012
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Damn... This is harsh.
Poor THQ...
I hope most of the employees get picked up by the new companies and that the new owners of IPs don't just hide them away.
 

Nouw

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Andy Chalk said:
Homeland (IP) - purchased by Crytek for $500,000
I think you mean Homefront. As much as we all love Damian Lewis :p.
 

Soviet Heavy

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So now Sega owns both the Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battle rights...

Make it your first order of business to hire back a bunch of Relic's old staff that were let go after Retribution.
 

Quiotu

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Andy Chalk said:
Employees of entities that are not part of the sale will be laid off. Among those assets are Darksiders studio Vigil Games and "some other intellectual properties."
Great... guess I'll just hang onto the two Darksiders games I own like a Faberge Egg. Won't be seeing those anymore...
 

deathbydeath

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To the company that published STALKER, Metro, Saints Row, Darksiders, Dawn of War and Space Marine: Goodbye. It's been fun.

 

RicoADF

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Soviet Heavy said:
So now Sega owns both the Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battle rights...

Make it your first order of business to hire back a bunch of Relic's old staff that were let go after Retribution.
I was just thinking that it sounds like it worked out perfectly for relic, and a big sigh of relief. Voalition though, I can't say I recall the name kosh media, so dunno what to think about that
 

J Tyran

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Is Sega owning Relic a good thing or a bad thing? I only know a few games published be Sega but they seemed OK, Relic happens to be one of my favorite devs. Hopefully Sega will be able to invest in Relic and we will continue to see great games coming from them
 

The White Hunter

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Soviet Heavy said:
So now Sega owns both the Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battle rights...

Make it your first order of business to hire back a bunch of Relic's old staff that were let go after Retribution.
Not to mention Company of Heroes... this could go one of two ways actually, it's either going to go really well ore really very badly indeed...
 

Quiotu

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Soviet Heavy said:
So now Sega owns both the Warhammer 40K and Warhammer Fantasy Battle rights...

Make it your first order of business to hire back a bunch of Relic's old staff that were let go after Retribution.
I told this to a friend of mine, and I'll say it again here. Sega successfully shit all over any IP they had that I liked. I have little faith that Sega can even BUY a decent IP and then do anything good with it.
 

Erttheking

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J Tyran said:
Is Sega owning Relic a good thing or a bad thing? I only know a few games published be Sega but they seemed OK, Relic happens to be one of my favorite devs. Hopefully Sega will be able to invest in Relic and we will continue to see great games coming from them
They published Vanquish, a completely INSANE third person shooter, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, even if I'm not qualified because I only ever played Space Marine in terms of Relic's games.
 

The White Hunter

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Oct 19, 2011
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J Tyran said:
Is Sega owning Relic a good thing or a bad thing? I only know a few games published be Sega but they seemed OK, Relic happens to be one of my favorite devs. Hopefully Sega will be able to invest in Relic and we will continue to see great games coming from them
Sega are hit and miss. They take risks, it has bit them in the ass in the past and they're put out some real shit, but it's one of the better places it could go if you ask me, better to be lapped up by Sega and actually used for something than absorbed into EA.
 

Corven

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Sep 10, 2008
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I was about to ask who the heck Koch Media was, but a little Google search shows that they're the same people who run Deep Silver. I find it interesting that EA didn't have their hands all over volition.
 

kburns10

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Ubisoft might do some dumb DRM stuff with South Park, but I'm actually glad to see them get the rights. If anyone had to scoop them up, I think the game will come out and be mostly untouched in all this. Here's hoping, or else it's a wasted pre-order.