Rumor: THQ Bankrupt/Looking For Buyers

[Dante]

Gamingeverything.com =

 

It seems that THQ is in a state of flux right at the moment. The company’s 2014 game lineup has been cancelled, and the publisher is currently trying to find a buyer.

 

Kevin Dent, who has been sending out a slew of tweets about the situation, said that “THQ are offering themselves to Asian firms to increase value!â€

 

Games Workshop’s MMO has been canned. This was almost certainly Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.

 

Other THQ projects, such as Darksiders II, Metro: The Last Light, and Devil’s Third are presumably still in development.

 

If true who would want to buy them? For me I think Nintendo should pick up Vigil and Darksiders IP.

[Daft]

Nintendo can GTFOff Darksiders.

 

I'd love to see Sony expand their ICE team pool. They should sell (or at least get them to make a good game) Guerilla Games and buy Vigil and Volition.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I reckon we should all pay a fiver each and buy them.

 

Would make one hell of a mafia game.

[Burny]

Nintendo can GTFOff Darksiders.

 

I would so laugh, if they did grab Vigil. :p

 

Can't see it happening though. They seem extremely reluctant to just "buy up" studios / IPs, especially in the West. Don't think the Darksiders IP would benefit from being a Nintendo exclusive either.

 

 

I hope everyone affected by this will land on their feet. I do wonder if it's going to be the end of Games Workshop (40k)-licensed games... Back around 2004, I was enthusiastic about the original Dawn of War. Over time though, I started to dislike aspects of it and how Relic handled them pretty strongly.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Burny

[Dcubed]

This is not surprising at all. The writing has been on the wall for years. Very sad and very terrifying!

 

Crazy to think that there are only 4 major western publishers left now! (EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Take Two)

 

One of those (T2) only survive from hit to hit (one wrong move and they're toast!), one of those (Acti) only survive off the back of two franchises (both of which are on the decline) and the other two survive on how much they can screw over consumers and developers.

 

As for who would buy them, I don't think that anyone would buy them outright, but rather they're gonna sell themselves off piece by piece.

 

I can see Konami or Capcom buying the developers and Square Enix or Namco buying the IP. Nintendo won't touch them (but may buy exclusivity for certain franchises)

Edited January 15, 2012 by Dcubed

[Will]

Not heard anything that would suggest this is the case but it wouldn't surprise me if it happens. I'll have to ask around and see what's going down.

 

Can't see them being bought out wholesale either. A lot of their stuff is licenses which will get farmed out separately. Devs will either get snapped up or go it on their own before closing down. It's the way things are going, the industry has been shaken up big time over the last few years, now things are settling down and new major players are appearing while old ones fall away. There will be much more of this over the next few years.

[Wesley]

Ahhhh, now the STALKER 2 stuff makes more sense.

 

EDIT: So after thinking some more about it, I'm not too sure about this.

 

I mean, it's just come from this one guy... and none of the people who work at studios who've had their shit canned have said anything?

Edited January 15, 2012 by Wesley

[gaggle64]

We don't know it for a fact but there's no smoke without fire. THQ's been struggling for a while but they've got assets - I reckon they'll auction themselves off piece by piece over the next couple of years.

 

I am also rather disappointed, I was rather looking forward to seeing that 40k MMO.

[Dante]

The only reason for this happened to THQ is because they thrown money at uDraw HD for 360/PS3 and markerting for Homefront.

[Wesley]

Well also because of the last couple of years of expansion.

 

Like a new Canadian studio that was trying to attract top talent and had over a 200 employees.

 

Also this hasn't actually happened yet, it's still only a rumour.

[Nolan]

I don't see it happening. They have a lot of licenses that do well even if the game isn't good, i.e. movie IPs. Relic has been a decent fast flow, but Volition is hit and miss. Red Faction is on the down and out.

[Wesley]

Yeah most probably isn't happening.

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/15/rumor-thq-cancels-2014-game-lineup-looking-for-buyer.aspx

[Murr]

If it were to happen, would EA take the WWE license of their hand's? or would Activision step in and take it?

 

I'd guess it'd be one of the 2.

[Pit-Jr]

Poor THQ.

 

This reminds me of the time N-Europe claimed they were shutting down with no hard evidence

[Burny]

Yeah most probably isn't happening.

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/15/rumor-thq-cancels-2014-game-lineup-looking-for-buyer.aspx

 

Update: THQ PR got back to us and said they haven't heard anything about the rumored 2014 cancellations.

 

?

 

That's as good as Nintendo's PR claiming they'll have a good launch lineup for the 3DS or a solid release schedule for the Wii in 2011.

 

I guess time will show what there is to this rumor.

[Murr]

?

 

That's as good as Nintendo's PR claiming they'll have a good launch lineup for the 3DS or a solid release schedule for the Wii in 2011.

 

I guess time will show what there is to this rumor.

 

 

[The Bard]

That's a real bummer, THQ were great with publishing games that would otherwise have been unable to find a western market, such as STALKER and Metro 2033. Boo .

[flameboy]

The only reason for this happened to THQ is because they thrown money at uDraw HD for 360/PS3 and markerting for Homefront.

 

Bur Homefront made its money back by a mile despite its lack of critical praise.

 

Well also because of the last couple of years of expansion.

 

Like a new Canadian studio that was trying to attract top talent and had over a 200 employees.

 

Also this hasn't actually happened yet, it's still only a rumour.

 

Yeah agreed somewhat about expansion although Canada has become the invogue thing to do because of tax breaks and relative strength of the canadian dollar. However its what you do with that which counts make crap games that underperform and your still gonna fail.

[Wesley]

Giant Bomb have an article covering this: http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-still-planning-on-releasing-games-in-2014-despite-what-you-might-have-heard/3917/

 

Kinda says something about the publisher if so many people thought it was probably true.

[Rummy]

I don't know much about THQ, but I find this hard to believe given they've had some recent releases. Surely a flagging dev/publisher wouldn't be putting stuff out if they were going bankrupt?

[Wesley]

Lots of developers find out they're out of the job when company/parent company/income has dried up when they just walk into the office one day.

 

With a big publisher like THQ we would have heard a lot of rumblings from their many developers though...

 

I thought for a second this linked nicely with STALKER 2 (you'd think they would've been getting funding from the people who published STALKER 1).

 

But then checking up on it their latest STALKER add-ons/exampansions/smaller games weren't published by THQ - so that relationship probably doesn't exist.

[Nolan]

 

Kinda says something about the publisher if so many people thought it was probably true.

 

Says more about the people.

[Wesley]

Well... I think it definitely says something about the shitty knee-jerk gaming press we have.

[Burny]

Can we interpret "refocused" as "canceled, but we're trying to save some investment by using already produced assets for another game"?

 

THQ Announces Update for Warhammer® 40,000®: Dark Millennium™

 

Project Shifts from MMO Business Model

 

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 29, 2012-- THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that it has refocused Warhammer® 40,000®: Dark Millennium™ from a Massively Multiplayer Online game to an immersive single player and online multiplayer experience with robust digital content, and engaging community features. Further product details, platforms and release timing will be announced at a later date.

 

“As previously announced, we have been actively looking for a business partner for the game as an MMO. However, based on changing market dynamics and the additional investment required to complete the game as an MMO, we believe the right direction for us is to shift the title from an MMO to a premium experience with single and multiplayer gameplay, robust digital content and community features,” said Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ Inc. “Because we believe strongly in the high-quality and vast creative work that is in production, this is the right decision for both our portfolio and for gamers devoted to this powerful property.”

 

“We are genuinely excited about the new direction that THQ is taking with Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium, and we are sure that this will be a great addition to the ever growing stable of authentic and engaging Warhammer 40,000 video games,” said Jon Gillard, Head of Licensing for Games Workshop.

 

As a result of this change, team sizes at two THQ internal studios will be reduced by 79 full-time employees at Vigil Games in Austin, Texas, and 39 employees at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, B.C.

 

Vigil Games will continue to focus on both this game and the critically-acclaimed new title, Darksiders® II, scheduled for release this summer. Relic Entertainment continues to focus its development expertise on THQ’s franchises including Company of Heroes® and Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War®.

 

Source

[Cube]

If The Old Republic was "refocused" like that, it would have been a brilliant game.