Madrugador
Member
You will be missed THQ. RIP.
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RIP THQ/Toy Head-Quarters (1989-2013)
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Agent Ironside
Member
Good to hear Sega gobbled up Relic. Hopefully somebody snatches up Volition.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Koch Media (Deep Silver) did.
Ruthless_Barbarian
Member
Thanks THQ. You won't be forgotten. RIP Vigil. 
Glass Rebel
Member
This has been quite an experience. Seeing a company like THQ completely fall apart was quite sad but I'm happy that at least some jobs and projects were saved.
The biggest and best surprise for me was SEGA buying Relic. I think they're in very good company alongside Sports Interactive & Creative Assemply and I fully expect the Warhammer 40k license to follow them. It'll be very interesting to see what they'll do after Company of Heroes 2 but I'm very excited about them joining the SEGA West family.
Koch Media/Deep Silver's acquisition of Volition and Saints Row came completely left-field but it's not necessarily bad I think. Those two assets push them up a few steps on the publisher ladder and from what I've heard the studios retain a lot of creative freedom. I'm glad they outbid Ubisoft on those and Metro: Last Light.
Take Two bidding $11m for Evolve makes me very optimistic about the game and the concept art looks promising as well. Clearly TT saw something in the game if they were willing to bid so much for it.
Homefront being bought by Crytek is just so surreal. More than likely they're just trying to not let all their work go to waste but I still can't help thinking "who would want that?". I doubt this franchise will go beyond Homefront 2 and I'm not even interested who's going to publish it.
THQ Montréal in the hands of Ubisoft is annoying and somewhat hilarious. Patrice is in the most awkward situation and I'm really sorry for him but more than that I just didn't want more studios and franchises ending up at Ubisoft and use their terrible uPlay client. Same goes for South Park. Seeing as there was nobody else bidding for either, I can't be too mad though. Disappointed in Square-Enix not showing up but I guess they didn't need a third studio in Montréal.
The biggest tragedy here was the closure of Vigil. I just can't believe that nobody would be interested in such a talented albeit unfocused developer as Vigil. I've said it before but I'm convinced that a different publisher could have made Darksiders a profitable endeavour. I just hope the guys and gals at Vigil land on their feet and find new jobs in the Austin area (Arkane and Retro are hiring, guys!).
All in all a very sad moment indeed but I hope that future companies will learn from it.
The biggest and best surprise for me was SEGA buying Relic. I think they're in very good company alongside Sports Interactive & Creative Assemply and I fully expect the Warhammer 40k license to follow them. It'll be very interesting to see what they'll do after Company of Heroes 2 but I'm very excited about them joining the SEGA West family.
Koch Media/Deep Silver's acquisition of Volition and Saints Row came completely left-field but it's not necessarily bad I think. Those two assets push them up a few steps on the publisher ladder and from what I've heard the studios retain a lot of creative freedom. I'm glad they outbid Ubisoft on those and Metro: Last Light.
Take Two bidding $11m for Evolve makes me very optimistic about the game and the concept art looks promising as well. Clearly TT saw something in the game if they were willing to bid so much for it.
Homefront being bought by Crytek is just so surreal. More than likely they're just trying to not let all their work go to waste but I still can't help thinking "who would want that?". I doubt this franchise will go beyond Homefront 2 and I'm not even interested who's going to publish it.
THQ Montréal in the hands of Ubisoft is annoying and somewhat hilarious. Patrice is in the most awkward situation and I'm really sorry for him but more than that I just didn't want more studios and franchises ending up at Ubisoft and use their terrible uPlay client. Same goes for South Park. Seeing as there was nobody else bidding for either, I can't be too mad though. Disappointed in Square-Enix not showing up but I guess they didn't need a third studio in Montréal.
The biggest tragedy here was the closure of Vigil. I just can't believe that nobody would be interested in such a talented albeit unfocused developer as Vigil. I've said it before but I'm convinced that a different publisher could have made Darksiders a profitable endeavour. I just hope the guys and gals at Vigil land on their feet and find new jobs in the Austin area (Arkane and Retro are hiring, guys!).
All in all a very sad moment indeed but I hope that future companies will learn from it.
It really is kind of crazy to see veteran companies like Volition being sold for pennies like 20 million. I mean, a pretty average soccer player from a less than average soccer team here in Argentina just got sold today for 10 million. Volition is a whole company with a handful of succesful IPs and who knows how many employees.
AlimNassor
Banned
Are you shitting me?
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
Man, all these folks mentioning the name, and here I was still calling them Toy Headquarters.
Thank you so much, I'd been busy all day and really needed to get up to speed on the final results.
I'm sad as shit about South Park.
Thank you so much, I'd been busy all day and really needed to get up to speed on the final results.
I'm sad as shit about South Park.
If there was a game this gen that was more linear and more braindead (mash 1 button to win!) than that then I haven't played it yet.
Ubisoft got it's publishing rights.
gamergirly
Member
CrunchyFrog
Member
A company awesome enough to not only greenlight an innovative game like de Blob but even a sequel despite low sales of the original is a ok in my book. Speaking of which, I know Blue-Tongue is out of business, so who owns the de Blob IP now?
No, Koch Media GmbH got the publishing rights to Metro. Ubisoft got the rights to South Park.
CrankyKong
Member
Thanks for WWF No Mercy
Agreed on both accounts.
I really dread the idea of a new generation if the best thing it can bring is prettier graphics in exchange for so many developers' doom.
speculawyer
Member
Wow. We've seen a lot of publishers bite the dust. 3DO, Midway, Acclaim, and now THQ and Atari. It is a brutal business. I guess you really need some reliable franchises like Madden, CoD, and GTA to survive in this tough business.
speculawyer
Member
Looking at that list, you can see what did them in. They were heavily reliant on licensed kiddie shovelware. With the rise of the iPhone, Android, and iPad killing the kiddie market, they had to transition quickly. But the space they had to transition to was already populated with tough competitors. The transition failed.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
So fucking sad. They'll be missed and remembered.
The original de Blob didn't sell that badly. Got over 700k worldwide, so it was a modest success.
It fell prey to the same thing that killed uDraw and now Epic Mickey 2: attempting to take a moderately successful Wii game and put out multiplatform/HD sequels.
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
From childhood to adulthood, I never new that acronym for THQ!
Another piece of an era gone. RIP THQ.
Another piece of an era gone. RIP THQ.
RobbieNick
Junior Member
Thanks THQ for...
WWF/WWE Games.
Red Faction Guerilla
Saint's Row
De Blob WHY DID YOU PEOPLE NOT BUY THIS GREAT SERIES?! THE MUSIC WAS AWESOME AND SO WAS THE GAMEPLAY! "Sobs"
Two years of Free Parking at E3 while promoting Homefront and Saint's Row the Third.
Cheapy D as DLC.
I'm really glad WWE got a home with 2K Games. That can only improve now.
WWF/WWE Games.
Red Faction Guerilla
Saint's Row
De Blob WHY DID YOU PEOPLE NOT BUY THIS GREAT SERIES?! THE MUSIC WAS AWESOME AND SO WAS THE GAMEPLAY! "Sobs"
Two years of Free Parking at E3 while promoting Homefront and Saint's Row the Third.
Cheapy D as DLC.
I'm really glad WWE got a home with 2K Games. That can only improve now.
zerokoolpsx
Member
Thanks THQ for Company of Heroes, Darksiders, Saints Row the Third, the first STALKER, Titan Quest Gold and Gitaroo Man. RIP THQ, you will be missed. Never knew that acronym meant that either. Mind blown.
I did buy it. It was doomed because multiplatform sequel to Wii exclusive.
RobbieNick
Junior Member
AKA Epic Mickey 2 Gotcha.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Vale, Toy Headquarters. You were too beautiful for this world.
lazybones18
Banned
Thanks for the N64 wrestling games. They were fucking great
jim-jam bongs
Member
This really is sad. I generally tend to assume that big game publishers are just legions of soulless money-grubbing scumbags, but THQ have always been the exception. Up until the past few years when they suddenly decided they wanted to be EA or Activision, the games they published and the studios they supported were all heart. If there's one thing this cold-blooded industry needs, it's more heart. We are definitely worse off for having lost them.