• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rumor: THQ Cancels Their 2014 Line-Up & MMO, Looking For Buyers [Up: THQ Responds]

Patryn

Member
What are the odds that Square Enix would be interested? They had such success buying and turning around Eidos after all

This is what I'm curious about. They pretty much struck gold in acquiring Eidos. Maybe they'll take another swing on Western stuff? It would certainly help prop things up while they get their Japanese development back on track.
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
VOLITION, ARE YOU OKAY? POST IF YOU'RE OK!

Fuck, I mean most of their output was so so but goddamn they have some great stuff in their stable. I hope they can find a good buyer for Relic, Volition and the Darksiders guys. They can continue to do great things.

Come on, EA, Activision, anybody... do what's right here.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Wait, what? So, because they haven't been localizing random JRPGs, they are showing "zero interest" in games that would break out in the west?

Because it seems like every time a major western publisher/developer wants to put something on one of their consoles, they've made some effort to promote it. They even gave part of their last E3 to Vigil/THQ to talk about Darksiders 2!

It's the fact they give two rips about marketing anything other than the usual suspects they know can do 10 million.

They don't want to deal with these types of games. If forced to publish, they will. But they'll do one of their half-assed Excitebots "campaigns."

I'm sorry you think this is a good idea, but it's not. And more importantly, Nintendo wouldn't think it is. So I'm not going to argue something that can't be tangibly proven.

As for the whole E3/Darksiders bit, it was probably because they were the one publisher who had something to actually show that didn't look like a Wii game up-ported to 720P. I'd read nothing more into that than western publishers having precious little to show.
 
I'm talking a lot about NOA because Nintendo wouldn't be buying THQ for the Japanese market. It would have to be done for the western divisions. And when NOA shows zero interest in these type of projects, what would be the point?


NOA has shown plenty of interest in "sandbox" games (see the desperate begging for GTA from Reggie), they have released games that were always destined to be niche titles & as they have a new console due this year ( & we know at least one THQ game has a Wii U version running) & niche titles do better at launch its not pointless at all (plus I live in Europe, so we would get them anyway).

Now I'm not saying it will happen(it clearly won't) but it makes a certain amount of sense.

As for the whole E3/Darksiders bit, it was probably because they were the one publisher who had something to actually show that didn't look like a Wii game up-ported to 720P. I'd read nothing more into that than western publishers having precious little to show

I doubt it, have we actually seen the Wii U version of any 3rd party game (Also Batman:AC looks like a Wii game at 720P? Send me yours please.)
 

Corto

Member
I am truly saddened. Sure companies come and go. People are always shifting from a team to another, but this will affect so many teams that I followed and was looking for their future releases that I am honestly heart broken. Volition (Freespace damn it), Relic (Company of Heroes/Dawn of War), Vigil Games (Darksiders), Patrice Desillets, Itagaki San, Guillermo del Toro... Damn it! I just hope these people and their teams find a solid publisher to support them in the future.
 

Xater

Member
This is what I'm curious about. They pretty much struck gold in acquiring Eidos. Maybe they'll take another swing on Western stuff? It would certainly help prop things up while they get their Japanese development back on track.

Like someone else said, it might make sense for them to pick up THQ Montreal.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
This is what I'm curious about. They pretty much struck gold in acquiring Eidos. Maybe they'll take another swing on Western stuff? It would certainly help prop things up while they get their Japanese development back on track.

So far they have:

Internal:

Eidos Montreal Team 1: Deus Ex
Eidos Montreal Team 2: Thief
Eidos Montreal Team 3: New IP
Square Enix Montreal Team 1: Hitman
Square Enix Montreal Team 2: Unknown
Crystal Dynamics Team 1: Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics Team 2: New IP
IO Interactive Team 1: Hitman
IO Interactive Team 2: New IP

External:

True Crime: Hong Kong
Just Cause 3
Probably more.

They have a lot already, but yeah, they seem eager to grow.
 
If Konami had the money, I'd say THQ would be a good fit for them. Their executives hate letting people make the games they want to, which is really THQ's biggest problem, but Konami can't output anything on their own, which THQ does all the time.


Though in all likelihood, if an asian firm does buy them, it will likely be a situation like Ignition has with UTV Software Communications that will minimize it and try to keep them small to avoid overextending themselves.
 

Xater

Member
So far they have:

Internal:

Eidos Montreal Team 1: Deus Ex
Eidos Montreal Team 2: Thief
Eidos Montreal Team 3: New IP
Square Enix Montreal Team 1: Hitman
Square Enix Montreal Team 2: Unknown
Crystal Dynamics Team 1: Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics Team 2: New IP
IO Interactive Team 1: Hitman
IO Interactive Team 2: New IP

External:

True Crime: Hong Kong
Just Cause 3
Probably more.

They have a lot already, but yeah, they seem eager to grow.

Wait are 2 teams working on this Hitman game or are you suggesting there are 2 different titles in development?
 

kswiston

Member
What third party publishers are large enough to buy THQ? I assume that Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are not interested.
 

Patryn

Member
So far they have:

Internal:

Eidos Montreal Team 1: Deus Ex
Eidos Montreal Team 2: Thief
Eidos Montreal Team 3: New IP
Square Enix Montreal Team 1: Hitman
Square Enix Montreal Team 2: Unknown
Crystal Dynamics Team 1: Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics Team 2: New IP
IO Interactive Team 1: Hitman
IO Interactive Team 2: New IP

External:

True Crime: Hong Kong
Just Cause 3
Probably more.

They have a lot already, but yeah, they seem eager to grow.

It would hilarious to me if SE did pick some of THQ up, and suddenly it's become much more of a Western game studio than an Eastern.
 

ghst

thanks for the laugh
If the IPs were sold off along with the company then yeah, it would cost quite a bit. If not, the studio still has quite a bit going for it. Based on their titles they're fast, efficient, and consistently high quality. For a publisher looking to expand with a new stuido and not wanting to go through the growing pains of restructuring, training and all that crap, Relic would be a good choice.
my money would be on squeenix.
 

Popeck

Member
Wait are 2 teams working on this Hitman game or are you suggesting there are 2 different titles in development?

The new studio they announced a while ago is working on a "nextgen" Hitman project while IO is developing Absolution.
 

AwShucks

Member
Well this sucks. Not because I like anything from THQ but because I'm in the game industry so I consider any major studio like this closing unfortunate AND I know people who work at THQ.
 

C_H_T

Member
Well this sucks. Not because I like anything from THQ but because I'm in the game industry so I consider any major studio like this closing unfortunate AND I know people who work at THQ.

Are there any other major publishers in financial problems, who will be next?
 

Aaron

Member
Any publisher would be nuts not to pick up the majority of THQ. It's a shame that some rotten management decisions can doom a source of so many great games.
 

KingJ2002

Member
I figured this was going to happen. No way a company like THQ can continue to pump out big budget titles with little to no return. They should have followed the footprints of other companies that saw the signs of the times and went smaller or niche (like atari)... but instead they tried to compete and now they'll end up like midway.

anywho... the next question is... which company can use their portfolio?

i would assume that the top runners for THQ would be EA, Activision, Take Two since their portfolio would be strengthened immensely.

with EA... they could take it all... it gives them the WWE and UFC licenses for their EA Sports brand as well strong titles for their EA Games titles with Saints Row, Darksiders, and Warhammer titles.

Activision & Take Two on the other hand... would be very well poised to take all those titles as well but would probably sell off an IP or two.

For Activision... True Crime is gone so replacing it with Saints Row would be a smart move, and taking those disney contracts would effectively make them the exclusive developer for disney licenses (Marvel included of course).... but i don't see them jumping on the sports bandwagon so I can see them wanting to sell those licenses to someone else...

For Take Two... grabbing the WWE & UFC licenses from the clutches of EA would give 2K a stronger sports presence. Still missing Football of course but if any company can give WWE & UFC titles the proper attention they deserve... it's 2K sports... and im sure Vince McMahon and Dana White would agree... but with GTA doing so well... i doubt they will want to keep Saints Row unless they want to bury the franchises in their IP catalog... so i'm assuming they'll leave that on the table for someone else.

...and both companies would benefit from adding darksiders & warhammer to their portfolio.


long story short... if any of these 3 companies take THQ IP's... i wouldn't be surprised.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Nintendo buys Vigil, makes Darksiders their new IP, makes it the go to place for people that want a gritty Zelda, continues to make the real Zelda something family friendly.

There, everybody happy.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I honestly don't think anybody will pick up the 'majority' of THQ. I expect studios and IPs to be sold off separately. Pubs will be more willing to one studio up over "TAKE EVERYTHING PLEASE OH GOD".
 

Globox_82

Banned
this suck. I am not into their games, but I don't like to see stuff like this happening. In the end there will be one console and 5 publishers, mark my words...
 
If there's a bidding war over anything, it will be THQ Montreal.

No IP to tie them down, well-known talent, good tax breaks. I can easily see EA or Activision fight to get that studio.
 
Capcom could be the most likely, they even said they want to work with more western studios.

If Nintendo were to pick up anything, it'd be Vigil and Darksiders, as said, Darksiders II probably got the most talk of any Wii U game outside of E3, and of course the Zelda similarities make it a nice fit, hell them on Zelda itself could be epic!

And Retro just picked up a former employee, that's something else to consider.

If Blue Tongue were still around, they'd be ripe for the picking as well with de Blob and all.

Other than that, I don't know. I hope Darksiders II and Metro Last Light still make it out on Wii U. :(
 

Corto

Member
They have a lot of badly selling games, as well.

They're a Double-A publisher in a world where AA games do not make money. Neither direction they go with budgets would have worked out well for them.

They over reached too trying to become a AAA publisher with increasing high risk bets that fall flat. I would guess that Homefront was just the straw that broke the camel's back. They should have went the exact opposite direction emulating Paradox instead of aiming for an over crowded EA/Activision/Ubisoft space. But perhaps that was not even an option for them too, maybe they were doomed whatever their direction was.
 
Come on Microsoft, buy out THQ to keep Saints Row alive! That and Darksiders would make a few nice exclusives for your next system.
 
One step closer to a fully EActivision run 3rd party industry. Poor gaming. Apparently the leap in development costs didn't come with a leap in financial planning.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
If there's a bidding war over anything, it will be THQ Montreal.

No IP to tie them down, well-known talent, good tax breaks. I can easily see EA or Activision fight to get that studio.

I could totally see EA taking that one and putting Patrice Desilets in charge of a sandbox game.
 
Top Bottom