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THQ now selling off Darksiders, Homeworld, Red Faction and More

sangreal

Member
here is the original source: http://www.kccllc.net/documents/1213398/1213398130226000000000004.pdf

including the complete list Kotaku didnt bother to report

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Lime

Member
April 15? That's a long time of anxiety attacks. I hope Homeworld ends up in a place where the 3 games will be released on GOG and Steam.
 

DocSeuss

Member
We should buy Homeworld, release a Homeworld complete pack on GOG and then give it to Relic/Sega.

"and then give..."

No.

Most of the people who did Homeworld aren't at Relic anymore, and the people who did Homeworld don't seem to think much of it, judging by the Hardware interview at RPS.

Better to buy it, release a complete pack on GoG (and later, of course, Steam), then use the proceeds to fund development of a new game that, if not Homeworld, is certainly in the same vein.

EDIT: My bad, apparently Impossible Creatures, despite being owned by THQ according to trademark stuff I've seen, isn't up for sale? Weird.
 
Nothing at all about the Titan Quest IP? :(

It's valueless without the engine and assets but I'm still interested in where it ends up.
 
Better to buy it, release a complete pack on GoG (and later, of course, Steam), then use the proceeds to fund development of a new game that, if not Homeworld, is certainly in the same vein.

I'd totally do/organize something like this if I had free time as a developer.
 

Lime

Member
Why is Homeworld: Cataclysm excluded from lot 2? Isn't that game part of the IP rights?

Warm Machine here on GAF was part of Barking Dog Studios back then, maybe he/she knows what's up.
 

FACE

Banned
"and then give..."

No.

Most of the people who did Homeworld aren't at Relic anymore, and the people who did Homeworld don't seem to think much of it, judging by the Hardware interview at RPS.


Better to buy it, release a complete pack on GoG (and later, of course, Steam), then use the proceeds to fund development of a new game that, if not Homeworld, is certainly in the same vein.

And we should pick up Impossible Creatures while we're at it.

Now I'm curious, got a link for that interview?
 

Lime

Member
Now I'm curious, got a link for that interview?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=46832315

Also, I made a post a year or two ago on a comment made by a Relic employee:

Oh yeah, here's my original post in January from the "Homeworld 3..Will we ever see it?" thread with quotes by Noun from Relic:

Sorry for the insane bump, but I didn't think this was worthy of a new thread (if it is, please split bump). For anyone interested in some comments on Relic, THQ and the possibility of Homeworld 3 really need to read this thread on Relic News:

Here are some quotes from UberJumper (who works at Blackbird Interactive with the Rob and a couple of others ex-Relic guys):

What I get out of that site and that post is that they like Homeworld and they want to make a game like it. But without some concept art, some backstory (and it can't be set in the Homeworld universe, because they don't own the IP) and what not, they've got nothing at this time to offer all of us that want a Homeworld 3.

It's like at E3 2003 when Relic wasn't able to show Homeworld 2. I was at the booth for the ORB developers, when I was introduced to the guy as being from Relicnews he went "Hey this is Homeworld 2!" (since he knew Homeworld 2 wasn't at the show). Meanwhile I'd just been shown Homeworld 2's E3 Trailer by Alex Garden in a private showing at Microsoft's booth.

Sadly, this time around Homeworld 3's really not in development.

Homeworld was magic. You're never going to find another game as awesome as it was for its time. Homeworld 2 was a decent attempt but it's development was filled with problems. Homeworld 3 won't happen because unless you can pick up and play the game in seconds, you won't sell many copies. If you can't prove that your game's going to be easy to play AND awesome in your pitch meeting when trying to get funding from the Studio, you'll never get it made.

Couple that with pretty well the entire original art and design staff of Homeworld leaving Relic, with a handful of Homeworld 2 developers left on staff, Homeworld's done. Put a fork in it.

(I want Homeworld 3 more than the rest of you combined).

You have to understand, it's not Relic making the decision, it's THQ. You also have to understand that THQ is on it's last legs. They're looking for ways to make money quickly. A 3d space RTS that hasn't sold millions of units (I think combined, the Homeworld sales, including HW:C and HW2 is only 1.5 million or so) won't be what they're looking at. As you should also know, critical success doesn't equal financial success. THQ needs a winner, and they're not lead by competent people.

Hell, even Space Marine, which was a pretty good potential start for a new IP, which had easy to pick up controls and was a lot of fun isn't getting a sequel when it very well should! THQ for some reason doesn't want to spend money on something unless it's a sure fire hit.

RTS games are pretty niche (with the exception of maybe Starcraft, which is the exception to the rule). RTS games are *hard* for Joe Average gamer to pick up. Remember, WE get RTS games, we could play Homeworld. We're NOT the target audience (for THQ).

THQ purchased the IP back from Sierra/Vivendi when Ron Moravek was still at Relic/THQ. There's no one left at Relic carrying the flame aside from a couple of Homeworld 2 devs.

And the following are from Noun, who works at Relic:

Just to clear up a few things.

1. I have never heard that we would make a new Homeworld game if there was a 15,000 signature petition. These days you can get a that many people to sign a petition in favour of kicking puppy dogs, so we wouldn't allow that to alter whether or not we were making a game. We understand that a portion of our community would love to see a new Homeworld game, but we also know that a large number of people would love to see us working on Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and Space Marine games. Maybe even Impossible Creatures, though they don't tend to be that vocal.

2. We did not pay for that article in PC Gamer as claimed in this thread. What sort of logic does it make to pay for coverage of a game that we haven't announced yet? We pay for ads, not coverage when we are promoting a game.

3. The Tweet quoted was not in any way suggesting that we were making HW3, or that we weren't. It's misreading like this that discourages companies from taking a more active role in engaging with their community. If we have to be deadly serious in all our communications then that's no fun for everyone, but anything approaching humor seems to push someone's buttons the wrong way.

Homeworld's a game that's very close to lots of people at the studio. A lot of the staff here cut their teeth on the original, and a lot of the newer staff wanted to work at Relic specifically because of Homeworld. We love the game as much as any of you, but that doesn't change whether or not returning to that is the right step for us in the future. If we do make a Homeworld 3 it's because we feel we have something new to do that will live up to the original game. We don't want make a new one just to get a few quick dollars. While we listen to our fans, we also don't want to make a game just to appease them. A disapointing half-assed HW3 would be worse than none.

We also have no plans to sell the Homeworld IP. Also who would want it beyond a small but dedicated fanbase? It would be much easier and cheaper for another studio to simply invent their own universe (but it's space lol) than adapting ours.

I didn't say that Homeworld could not be a profitable series, I said that I didn't believe that another company would pay for the IP when they can just create their own new one. While it has a dedicated fanbase it's not like Homeworld is Star Wars where it's going to sell a million copies based on the name alone.

So there you pretty much have it.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
PG* getting Darksiders is all I really care about. Although Destroy All Humans could do with a decent return too, maybe by Sucker Punch.
 
If i had the money.

Full Spectrum warrior and Homeworld i would snap up instantly.

Both games are hugely underappreciated. In fact FSW would be perfect as an ios game in terms of controls.
 

DocSeuss

Member
I'd totally do/organize something like this if I had free time as a developer.

I was actually working on a game like this with some classmates, but we've had week after week of stuff beyond our control that keeps getting us in the way. Since I graduate in the spring, it's unlikely that what we were planning will ever get made.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
THQ still owned the IPs for Stacking and Costume Quest? When Double Fine published both of those on Steam I assumed they owned it now. Too bad. :(
 
So if Someone at Gaf decides to start a kickstarter to buy HW to release the games on GoG.

Tier 1 - Copy of the games.

Tier 2 - Become investor and get royalties.

Would that work?
 
Monster Games should pick up any of the racers, tough call between MX vs ATV, Juiced, and Stuntman, Stuntman were by the Pilotwings 64 folks, so that'd be at home at Monster Games.

Is it at all possible for the lots to be split? Why should a company have to buy a dozen IPs when only interested in one?

I guess some small company can attempt to buy a lot and then auction off each IP.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
yo if any of you buys lot 5 please put elements of destruction xbla on sale, $10 is too expensive. $2.50 would be ideal, thanks.
 

Ridley327

Member
Monster Games should pick up any of the racers, tough call between MX vs ATV, Juiced, and Stuntman, Stuntman were by the Pilotwings 64 folks, so that'd be at home at Monster Games.

Is it at all possible for the lots to be split? Why should a company have to buy a dozen IPs when only interested in one?

Who the hell would be interested in owning All Star Cheer Squad or Big Beach Sports on their own? It's the easiest way to get rid of them.
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
here is the original source: http://www.kccllc.net/documents/1213398/1213398130226000000000004.pdf

including the complete list Kotaku didnt bother to report

just get uDraw out of lot 5. ,who will even think about getting uDraw?

Only if they want to go back to a Guerrilla type game! But really, there are some good franchises there to be had presumably pretty cheap.

yeah open world RF:G2 is a must

only Volition can make Red Faction, a Red Faction with geo-mod or Volition is pointless
 
Who the hell would be interested in owning All Star Cheer Squad or Big Beach Sports on their own? It's the easiest way to get rid of them.

They should've put those IPs in genre groups of sorts, or just made them all individuals, surely a shovelware company would go for that high-selling (sadly) shit.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Repackaging and releasing the Homeworld games on Steam and GoG would generate some fairly substantial revenue.

If they were available for the right price, the right investor could make a pretty decent profit.
 

sangreal

Member
Maybe this will help with the "where is x" posts: http://www.thesangreal.net/gafpics/thq_assets.pdf

It lists everything THQ owned as of December, including IP and Licenses. IP starts on Page 26. That said, I still don't see Lock's Quest on the list of IP owned (it's in the auction)

There are separate lists for each subsidiary, but I believe all the IP should be there
 

Lime

Member
Repackaging and releasing the Homeworld games on Steam and GoG would generate some fairly substantial revenue.

If they were available for the right price, the right investor could make a pretty decent profit.

If a GOG and Steam release would have netted a decent profit, it makes one wonder why THQ just sat on the IP and never bothered to release them digitally. Especially when they were in dire need of money in some way or another.
 

Corto

Member
If a GOG and Steam release would have netted a decent profit, it makes one wonder why THQ just sat on the IP and never bothered to release them digitally. Especially when they were in dire need of money in some way or another.

They forgot they owned it.
 

XPE

Member
I take it if you buy red faction you dont get the tech behind it, if so the red faction franchise might not be worth as much.
 

Lime

Member
Much of that doesn't apply seeing Relic is now owned by Sega, though. The Total War games aren't exactly "pick up and play" titles, for instance.

True, one can hope that there's a chance. But the probability is very small, seeing how the majority of the original creative talent is no longer at Relic, while their current focus is on getting Company of Heroes 2 out of the door, and continue the development of Dawn of War 3 (codenamed Atlas) *if* Games Workshop agrees to let Relic/SEGA continue working on the IP. Also, SEGA needs to pick up the Homeworld license in this situation if they ever want to have Relic make a HW3.

Furthermore, the fact that Creative Assemply is already working on a Warhammer game suggests that SEGA might position Relic as the 40K RTS studio.

I would probably guess that a decision on how to continue with the Homeworld series could be initiated by testing the waters with a GOG and Steam release to see how well-known and how relevant the brand still is today. Otherwise there are too many factors against a Relic-made Homeworld 3 scenario.
 
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