Bankruptcy Auction Ends THQ

[Quazimofo]

The thing that jumps out for me is take two buying an IP that the general public knows almost nothing about. It makes me curious what exactly Evolve is?

Remember a while ago when they said they had something up their sleeve? Something unannounced which probably wasnt going to be until after they survived bankruptcy?

That was probably one of those things.

 

[AstaresPanda]

sad times, end of an era, no more THQ ..... it just sounds too weird. SouthPark i was really wanting but i fucking HATE ubisoft.

At least Relic is safe not sure what to think about Sega owning them but at least its not EA. I really hope sega give relic the time and funding needed to make great WARHAMMER 40K games. DAWN OF WAR 3 !!!! PLEEEAASEE and SPHESS MAREEENE 2 !!!

But dam i feel bad for Vigal, i was really excited about the 40k mmo they were making since i saw a concept art in an old pc gamer mag from YEARS ago. Sad that all the work put into that game dies along with them

Im just happy Relic did not die, DOW3 !!!! MY ARMOUR IS CONTEMPT, MY SHIELD IS DISGUST, MY SWORD IS HATRED. IN THE EMPERORS NAME LET NONE SURVIVE !!!!!!

 

[Saviordd1]

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.

Out of all the companies I've encountered in my gaming theirs was the most...Warhammered

 

[Nightvalien]

Good bye THQ, I loved you. Really hope that DOW3 doesn't get affected by this.

 

[Nouw]

Relic didn't go to EA or Ubisoft, therefor I am happy. Hopefully this means we will see Dawn Of War 3 at some point yes?

There is no mention of Dawn of War in the official report [http://www.thesangreal.net/gafpics/results.pdf] so there's a chance SEGA didn't buy the IP. They're on good terms with GWS so it should be fine.

 

[Frontastic]

Aw, I feel almost bad for Homefront, it went for so little compared to the rest. Poor ickle Homefront, does no one wuv you *rubs head reassuringly*

Fare thee well, THQ...

 

[Souplex]

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

1. Why was so much paid for something meager like Relic?
2. Who are Koch Media?
3. What does this mean for The Stick Of Truth?

 

[triggrhappy94]

Relic - purchased by Sega for $26 million
This one is going to be the most interesting to see what happens. Hopefully it just marks an upgrade in management for Relic.

Volition - purchased by Koch Media for $22.3 million
As in Koch Industries? The chemical guys who donate millions to the Republican party?
What do they want with Saints Row?

South Park (IP) - purchased by Ubisoft for $3.2 million
That's not bad. I trust Ubi knows what it's doing.

Homefront (IP) - purchased by Crytek for $500,000
This is probably the best case scenerio.

 

[-Dragmire-]

South Park (IP) - purchased by Ubisoft for $3.2 million

*twitch*

...Ok, I it could be very much worse though I'm not seeing the 2 big spenders there, did they miss the memo?

Also, I thought in this instance they were licensing the IP not buying it, or are they licensing the "South Park" name while buying the stick of truth IP, or were they just contracted to make the game and now that Ubisoft bought the dev they just inherited the current contract by virtue of owning the contracted workforce which has little to do with ip ownership(wait, no dev with the IP, is it done?).

[sub][sub]My wording might not be clear so I'll say this here to avoid misinterpretation... I inderstand that the ip purchase in the op is specific to the game and not the other things like the show[/sub][/sub]

 

[Emo-Hawk]

So no more Dark Siders, any chance it will come back now at all?

 

[acosn]

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.

Because Relic is only a studio and they're so late in the development cycle I'd be surprised if Sega didn't extend offers to maintain the contracts all current employees had with THQ. Doesn't make sense to change horses this late in the cycle, and there's no real fat to be trimmed because everything external like tech support and such was handled by THQ proper.


And Sega doesn't actually own the Warhammer 40k license. Games Workshop is notorious for the iron grip they hold their licensing rights under, so really all Sega bought was the rights to the Dawn of War label. Though unless we discovered GW really, really hates Sega, I don't see why the license wouldn't be continued. I mean, if I recall correctly GW refuses to do anything with EA anymore, and had they picked up Relic the license would have almost certainly been dropped.


Unless Sega folds Relic into Creative Assembly, or simply shuts down the brand, they were probably the best possible buyer for Relic. They're a venerable presence in the Video Game industry, they have a track record of being in line with what gamers want rather than the mass market, and they don't shy away from projects that aren't going to basically print them money.

 

[2fish]

Relic, Volition, and Metro seem to have gone to good homes. I am as happy as one can be about losing thq.

 

[Tony2077]

hoping darksiders will get a good home as well and that this also means the games will still come out. i'll try to stay positive but it can only hold out for so long

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Farewell, THQ. We knew ye well.

I'm glad to see Volition was picked up, but that Vigil didn't get grabbed makes me sad. Just getting in to Darksiders II, and I think the series had tons of potential. The second, in my couple hours of play, is already leaps and bounds better than the first.

I don't have a problem with Ubisoft, and if the South Park game was set to release in March, I can't see there being too much left for them to do with it. I'm not a PC gamer, so I don't have any problems with their DRM. And I can't comment on the rest of the sale, because I had little to no interest in the other IP that was sold off.

Though I never bought much by them, knowing that I'll never see another game with the THQ logo on it makes me sad.

 

[shiajun]

My only concern was that Relic remain intact, at least structurally. The bad thing is they can't make another Homeworld game since Activision owns the rights to that IP through Vivendi.

THQ owned the rights to homeworld
They bought it in 07
so yes there is still hope

Oh, I didn't know that. Yet, it's not mentioned among the IPs bought in the auction. Did they come in the Relic bundle or are they just lost into the ether?

 

[RicoADF]

My only concern was that Relic remain intact, at least structurally. The bad thing is they can't make another Homeworld game since Activision owns the rights to that IP through Vivendi.

THQ owned the rights to homeworld
They bought it in 07
so yes there is still hope

Oh, I didn't know that. Yet, it's not mentioned among the IPs bought in the auction. Did they come in the Relic bundle or are they just lost into the ether?

I would say apart of the relic bundle, I'm guessing a lot of smaller IPs were sold with whatever studio made them but only the major ones mentioned to keep the list to bullet points

 

[The Random One]

Crytek + Home(front):
Probably not going to change much. Except that somebody will try and make a Homefront sequel, and...yeah.

Your correct on the former but not so much on the latter. Since Homefront 2 was already being developed by Crytek months before THQ announced all of this.

I'd say this is the only good news to come out of all this. A developer gaining control over an IP they developed is always a good thing.

So who the hell is Koch Media, and what are they going to do with Saints' Row?

 

[theultimateend]

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

If a warhammer game comes out that is as good as the new Sonic Racing game I'd be quite happy >.>...

Puts Mario Kart to shame.

 

[Nouw]

1. Why was so much paid for something meager like Relic?

SEGA was in a bidding war with Zenimax, parent company of Bethesda. They were 300k off.

2. Who are Koch Media?

Deep Silver.

3. What does this mean for The Stick Of Truth?

Not sure yet.

 

[uncanny474]

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

Try Deep Silver. Then realize that the only decent game they put out is Dead Island. Still, they didn't have any powerhouse developers from what I can tell, so we'll see what happens.