Alas poor THQ

Gavinmad

Gavinmad

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THQ is a Publisher. THQ owns Volition, the development studio responsible for the Saints Row games. While there may be some rocky times ahead, Volition is a proven studio and I can't imagine any possible sequence of events wherein the Saints Row franchise gets shut down.

THQ does not own Obsidian Entertainment, the development studio working on the South Park RPG. It remains to be seen if THQ will still end up publishing The Stick of Truth, or if Obsidian will be looking for another publisher.

The studios owned by THQ aside from Volition are Relic Entertainment, Vigil Games, and THQ Studio Montreal.
 
TrollfaceDeux

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a great way to exit...giving out their games freely, making hundreds of thousands for charity with their games....

Respect...
 
Wombat

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Trollface_sl said:
a great way to exit...giving out their games freely, making hundreds of thousands for charity with their games....
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Says who? Even at the time it was announced it was theorized that THQ was throwing a Hail Mary for immediate funds (perhaps they had loans due on Dec 31?) - we already know from Reckoning that Steam money can take months to show up, so that was out.
As to the charity aspect, I admit I am not a tax lawyer, but who knows the specifics there. It's worth pointing out that you could set it so that not all the money went to charity (and by default, I don't think it did), and even then, who says THQ couldn't spend the charity portion to pay immediate bills and make a donation later, or even if that eventual donation wasn't a charitable tax deduction anyway...

As for the games, Metro, South Park, and Company of Heroes all sound far enough along that they will definitely come out. Saints Row 4, who knows - I could see EA buying the IP, some of the leads, and now its on Frostbite 2. Darksiders, on the other hand, I wouldn't put any money on.
(That may be the ugliest part of the mess - finding out Darksiders 2 has estimated sales of ~2.4 million and still didn't break even. All hail our only two dozen megafranchises on disc future (though XBLA/PSN should be even better next gen.))
 
The Dauntless One

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Wombat_sl said:
Says who? Even at the time it was announced it was theorized that THQ was throwing a Hail Mary for immediate funds (perhaps they had loans due on Dec 31?) - we already know from Reckoning that Steam money can take months to show up, so that was out.
As to the charity aspect, I admit I am not a tax lawyer, but who knows the specifics there. It's worth pointing out that you could set it so that not all the money went to charity (and by default, I don't think it did), and even then, who says THQ couldn't spend the charity portion to pay immediate bills and make a donation later, or even if that eventual donation wasn't a charitable tax deduction anyway...

As for the games, Metro, South Park, and Company of Heroes all sound far enough along that they will definitely come out. Saints Row 4, who knows - I could see EA buying the IP, some of the leads, and now its on Frostbite 2. Darksiders, on the other hand, I wouldn't put any money on.
(That may be the ugliest part of the mess - finding out Darksiders 2 has estimated sales of ~2.4 million and still didn't break even. All hail our only two dozen megafranchises on disc future (though XBLA/PSN should be even better next gen.))
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Uh... you know the money goes straight to Humble Bundle right? Pretty sure THQ only gets the developer portion of the money...
 
Wombat

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Whoops, I was misinformed, I had heard the behind the scenes accounting was different from the usual Humble Bundle. So no "charitable loans" then.

Still doesn't mean it wasn't an emergency cash grab otherwise though.
 
Cantatus

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Gavinrad_sl said:
THQ is a Publisher. THQ owns Volition, the development studio responsible for the Saints Row games. While there may be some rocky times ahead, Volition is a proven studio and I can't imagine any possible sequence of events wherein the Saints Row franchise gets shut down.
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To be honest, I'm not worried in the least about the various popular franchises THQ publishes not being able to continue. What I am worried about is having either EA or Activision scoop them up and running them into the ground a la Mass Effect and Diablo.
 
Delly

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Valve should pick them up and make the games exclusive to PC/Valve console. Gogogo.
 
Gavinmad

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Cantatus_sl said:
To be honest, I'm not worried in the least about the various popular franchises THQ publishes not being able to continue. What I am worried about is having either EA or Activision scoop them up and running them into the ground a la Mass Effect and Diablo.
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Article_sl said:
THQ Inc. on Wednesday said it has signed an "asset purchase agreement" with affiliates ofClearlake Capital,which will buy "substantially" all of the videogame publisher's assets. As part of the sale, THQ has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a U.S. federal court in Delaware
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THQ is already in the hands of someone else, that's part of the bankruptcy. If EA or Activision had wanted them, they could have easily bought them.
 
Quineloe

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Trollface_sl said:
a great way to exit...giving out their games freely, making hundreds of thousands for charity with their games....

Respect...
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Pretty sure their creditors disagree, and so will bankruptcy courts
wink.png


wink.png
 
Sulrn

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Quineloe_sl said:
Pretty sure their creditors disagree, and so will bankruptcy courts
wink.png
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Even if this proves to be the case, do you think they (devs) care?

Most people I know in the creative industry still share the passion: "I want to create something everyone can enjoy."

wink.png
 
Szlia

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I am surprised this company lasted as long as it did. For me THQ is synonymous to a number of atrocious SNES games during the '90s.. Family Dog, Home Alone, The Lawnmower Man, Pitfighter... I guess when your average customer is a parent who does not care or a retarded teenager, it's a viable business model to pay some licensing fee (probably not that much at the time as few people took the time to notice how big the gaming market was), ask three guys to make something resembling a game in a couple months and voil?!
 
Gavinmad

Gavinmad

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Grand Inquisitor Kegkilla_sl said:
wonder whos gonna make the WWE games now
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THQ never made the WWE games, they were developed by Yuke's in Japan and published by THQ. As has already been said, they aren't going out of business, they were purchased as part of the bankruptcy.

Szlia_sl said:
I am surprised this company lasted as long as it did. For me THQ is synonymous to a number of atrocious SNES games during the '90s.. Family Dog, Home Alone, The Lawnmower Man, Pitfighter... I guess when your average customer is a parent who does not care or a retarded teenager, it's a viable business model to pay some licensing fee (probably not that much at the time as few people took the time to notice how big the gaming market was), ask three guys to make something resembling a game in a couple months and voil?!
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Well, losing Disney led to the first big THQ share crash, but the decision to bank so heavily on the uDraw was the wtf moment that bankrupted the company. The company has been a case study in incompetence for years now though. I mean it wasn't even a year ago that they announced they were going to stop development of licensed kids games, something that has been the bread and butter of the company for years now, to focus on their so-called core franchises. Lo and behold, a lukewarm Darksiders sequel apparently failed to sell enough to keep them out of bankruptcy. Aside from Saints Row, their core franchises are a fucking joke anyway. UFC Undisputed is beyond terrible, Darksiders 2 was a pale horse compared to the first one, and while I love Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, PC RTS is not exactly a big selling genre.
 
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