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THQ's bankruptcy sale details: Auction on January 22nd, Will Allow Piecemeal Purchase

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Scum

Junior Member
Part of me wants to see this happen just for the internet backlash.

If Bayonetta 2 was anything to go by then some of those THQ IP's being Nintendo only will create some fun reactions.

The Metro IP is from 4A Games right, does THQ own it or only publish it?

If they own it then i definitely want to see the reaction that would cause.

I think Metro is only published by THQ. I don't believe they own the IP.

Of course, you can be assured that Clearlake will increase its $60 million bid accordingly.

Oh hoooo!
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Before Square Enix stepped in? Perhaps, granted now that Eidos is in the mix you could draw the conclusion that the Eidos side of things would handle the newly acquired western IPs. So in that way, they would be in trouble.

And in what way were the two franchises in trouble before Square Enix? I didn't follow development on the two new titles and I thought they were conceptualzied after Eidos was acquired.

Edit: Look at me using all these big words trying to defend myself on the internet :eek:
 
EA could be a good fit for CoH if they can make it sell. Slap the Medal of Honor brand name on it and suddenly there are better MoH games than the last two released. :p

For this type of strategy game, the Company of Heroes brand is MUCH better than the Medal of Honor brand.
 

DocSeuss

Member
I just hope that whoever buys THQ's assets is a publisher that uses Steamworks and treats the companies they buy well.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
I just hope that whoever buys THQ's assets is a publisher that uses Steamworks and treats the companies they buy well.

Hell, I'd take even Origin if I EA wasn't so obsessed with turning everything into a homogenized AAAA blockbuster. Ubisoft/uPlay is completely out of the question though.
 

DocSeuss

Member
Hell, I'd take even Origin if I EA wasn't so obsessed with turning everything into a homogenized AAAA blockbuster. Ubisoft/uPlay is completely out of the question though.

The main problem I currently have with Origin is that it's missing a good backup feature. I can't afford to download Bulletstorm twice with my bandwidth cap. Meanwhile, I'm downloading many Steam games at school or when getting permission from the neighbor, and then transferring them from my laptop to my desktop.

If it had some more basic features that Steam did, better Community stuff, and didn't reorganize/reshape its window all the time (I do love that it's better than Steam in some ways, like offering the ability to hide games--but then again, I shouldn't need to hide demos, they should just be gone).
 
Before Square Enix stepped in? Perhaps, granted now that Eidos is in the mix you could draw the conclusion that the Eidos side of things would handle the newly acquired western IPs. So in that way, they would be in trouble.

And in what way were the two franchises in trouble before Square Enix? I didn't follow development on the two new titles and I thought they were conceptualzied after Eidos was acquired.

Edit: Look at me using all these big words trying to defend myself on the internet :eek:

Never mind my previous post. I'm not a fan of either of the series and was under the impression that Blood Money, Legend, Underworld, and Anniversary hadn't been well received, but after checking Metacritic I now know that to be false. My apologies.
 

EDarkness

Member
I'd almost put money on Nintendo not purchasing THQ, but damn it would be awesome to read the meltdowns if they did. Man, the internet would explode.
 
What's the most likely scenario for Relic and the COH IP?

Valve could buy them? That seems highly unlikely since COH doesn't fit in their usual games and it's not a really big franchise to start with. It would be awesome, but I don't think it's ever going to happen. Sega? They have the Total War series so a pure real-time game might fit?

It seems like the future is rather bleak for Relic. :(

Relic hasn't had too many huge hits. Company of Heroes didn't really sell well and THQ decided it wasn't worth working on the F2P CoHO in any markets, and neither Space Marine or their other console effort, The Outfit, sold to expectations. I'm not sure if anyone really wants to pick up a RTS developer, especially when Relic is located in the more expensive and dwindling Vancouver game development market.

For this type of strategy game, the Company of Heroes brand is MUCH better than the Medal of Honor brand.

And Command and Conquer is a much better brand than either when it comes to RTS games. Even after CnC4, the brand is far more marketable than as an RTS than Company of Heroes. PC RTS games are not a huge market, and EA has already decided their path is making a F2P RTS using CnC, I can't see them having any use for Company of Heroes.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
I don't think Tomb Raider 2013 or Hitman: Absolution should any indication of how Square-Enix would treat the THQ IPs in the hypothetical case of an acquisition. It's not like Darksiders or Saints Row are in some niche genre that has to be streamlined and made more appealing for mainstream audiences. And as for Relic, they've been treating the PC really well.

Ideally, I'd wish for Saints Row, Darksiders and Red Faction with their respective studios to go to Warner and Relic to Square-Enix (or Valve but that ain't happening).
 

Squire

Banned
Eidos is the portion of SE that has a good head on its shoulders.

They greenlit and assisted on Arkham Asylum (they still own a quarter of Rocksteady, too.)

They bought Sleeping Dogs.

They pulled off Deus Ex: Human Revolution when no one thought they would up until probably a year out from launch (if that.)

I've heard mixed things about the new Hitman; Tomb Raider isn't even out.

Under Eidos' control, THQ's IP would have a great home.
 
udraw_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg


This fucking thing.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Eidos is the portion of SE that has a good head on its shoulders.

They greenlit and assisted on Arkham Asylum (they still own a quarter of Rocksteady, too.)

They bought Sleeping Dogs.

They pulled off Deus Ex: Human Revolution when no one thought they would up until probably a year out from launch (if that.)

I've heard mixed things about the new Hitman; Tomb Raider isn't even out.

Under Eidos' control, THQ's IP would have a great home.
Forgot about them saving Sleepy Dogs, yeah I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm just not that glad about the direction they've taken Tomb Raider in given the latest impressions. So I'm kind of sour.

Then again, if they get someone who knows how to write, maybe Vigil could develop a new Soul Reaver title...
 
I think Square Enix would be a great fit that would do great to expand their western branch, since their Japanese branch doesn't do jack shit.

Warner Brothers is also great for their treatment of old Midway IPs.
 

Dueck

Banned
I think Square Enix would be a great fit that would do great to expand their western branch, since their Japanese branch doesn't do jack shit.

Warner Brothers is also great for their treatment of old Midway IPs.

I completely agree. I hope that comes to pass. Looking at the shape both Midway and Eidos assets are in today, I think either of them would do THQ justice. I just pray that EA, Ubisoft, or Activision do not get anything.
 
I think Square Enix would be a great fit that would do great to expand their western branch, since their Japanese branch doesn't do jack shit.

Warner Brothers is also great for their treatment of old Midway IPs.

absolutely. the love they've shown to games like sleeping dogs, deus ex, just cause 2 is unparalleled, they need to buy THQ and secure those ips. couldn't think of a better home.

nintendo wouldn't know what to do with them, microsoft was probably end up ruining them or not capitalising properly, sony are probably indifferent and god forbid activision get their slimy hands on them.
 

Zizbuka

Banned
Don't really understand the corporate issues, and I think I'm happy about that.

Guess there's no way they can dissolve and the IPs go back to the devs. Publishers shouldn't own IPs or devs, only the right to publish the games.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
huh, the allegations would certainly be fucked up if true.

Square Enix buying THQ would increase their investment in "Western IPs" and they would expand quite a bit with dev teams in America.

WB would obviously expand, they've been sort of a smaller publisher, but buying up THQ would make them considerably more substantial

Microsoft has been getting OUT of their games output engine, they probably would be wasting money if they bought out THQ since they dont have any benefit to any of the IPs or the devs that they dont already have. Exclusives dont matter when your console sells the majority of the titles anyway on your console.

Ubisoft and EA would probably just buy up THQ and shut down and sell off the parts they didnt want.

No point for Activision. They're already too big and they're already trying to sell themselves off to other people. Buying up THQ won't help that.


i see SE and WB as the "better" options
 
haven't microsoft been investing heavily in new studios? I know they've opened a number of new studios working on games, so I'm not sure if they would see it as wasted money. acquiring those ips and those studios would be a pretty big boon for them I would have thought.

my only concern is that they don't know what to studios / ips after they acquire them. just look at rare. :(
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
haven't microsoft been investing heavily in new studios? I know they've opened a number of new studios working on games, so I'm not sure if they would see it as wasted money. acquiring those ips and those studios would be a pretty big boon for them I would have thought.

my only concern is that they don't know what to studios / ips after they acquire them. just look at rare. :(

they acquired a lot during Xbox years, and spun off or shut at least half of them in the past 3 or so years.

plus Rare is only making Kinect games right now, so they're basically not the same Rare that was acquired, and i'm sure they've been slowly removing employees as time went on.
 
they acquired a lot during Xbox years, and spun off or shut at least half of them in the past 3 or so years.

plus Rare is only making Kinect games right now, so they're basically not the same Rare that was acquired, and i'm sure they've been slowly removing employees as time went on.

thanks, I didn't know they had been shuttering studios / developers. :/

yeah, this would be my major concern with them acquiring thq. after rare, they really don't deserve to be in the race to buy any other developer / studio.

it wouldn't even be that bad if they would just let rare work on their old ips. release them through the marketplace if you're worried about them bombing at retail. really bloody annoying they've let gems like conker, killer instinct, blast corps, jet force gemini and perfect dark die.

sure we got a hd remake of perfect dark, but where's my killer instinct and blast corps dammit? where's my sequel to kameo? :/
 
haven't microsoft been investing heavily in new studios? I know they've opened a number of new studios working on games, so I'm not sure if they would see it as wasted money. acquiring those ips and those studios would be a pretty big boon for them I would have thought.

my only concern is that they don't know what to studios / ips after they acquire them. just look at rare. :(

They have been gearing back up recently but I dont think anything THQ has would be seen as really worthwhile for them outside of Saints Row. Theres a bunch of stuff that would just not be worth it for them when they could make their own IP's rather than using THQ's b teir ones.
 

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
I wouldn't want any of the big three console makers to have control of any of the IPs.

Square Enix to me seems like it would be a great choice, how Tomb Raider is turning out I would put solely on Crystal Dynamics, the other properties besides SE's own in Japan have been great.
 

Mario007

Member
I could see SE or Capcom being pretty interested in this. Capcom purely from the fact that they saw what SE did with Eidos and how that helped the company and they'd like to imitate some of the success.

Also, I can see a 20-30% of Sony being interested in the SR IP. They have made deals with THQ regarding SR3 before and I think they'd love to have a recognisable sand-box brand, in case MS again pays up for some time exclusive agreement with Rockstar.
 

Derrick01

Banned
If Tomb Raider is "utter shit" then it was utter shit long before it came under Square's umbrella. If you're going to wield the sword of hyperbole try not to cut your own leg off.

The new hitman game is fine.

People on this site complain about reviewers who don't use every number on the 1 to 10 scale while quite a few people around here themselves only use 1 and 10.

The new hitman game is not fine, at least not for long time series fans. It's a bastardization of everything that made it special.

That being said I think I would prefer Square-Enix to get most of these IPs than EA or Ubisoft. Nothing good at all can come from them having these IPs.
 
I know people don't like to hear it, but both darksiders and saints row Could be improved dramatically from capcoms touch


and DmC is going to need a western Dev team. I don't see ninja theory being kept around. Vigil would be a much better fit.
 

TheNatural

My Member!
I think what people need to consider is that it is looking more and more apparent that THQ management has been illegally sabotaging their own company in an attempt to wipe their debt, screw their creditors, and continue to keep their jobs with a new owner which is personally linked to their new president. It's really dodgy shit, which is why they're getting in trouble with it now, and it has nothing to do with the employees in the various studios who work hard making games.

Sounds like OnLive. Pretty amazing how many shady ass individuals are in charge of videogame companies, and when things go south they show their true colors. There should be a book on this shit, the last days of a dying publisher.
 
WB are the leading player to keep THQ relatively untouched in terms of development, though not (mis)management. All of the other players are interested in separate assets rather than the whole of THQ.

Jason Rubin must be pretty worried about his future prospects at the company right now, the judge seems to have seen through his long term plan to devalue THQ and let them be bought for a song.

I hope the judge that deals with Nokia's eventual bankruptcy and sale to Microsoft can see what Elop was sent in to do.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
WB are the leading player to keep THQ relatively untouched in terms of development, though not (mis)management. All of the other players are interested in separate assets rather than the whole of THQ.

Jason Rubin must be pretty worried about his future prospects at the company right now, the judge seems to have seen through his long term plan to devalue THQ and let them be bought for a song.

I hope the judge that deals with Nokia's eventual bankruptcy and sale to Microsoft can see what Elop was sent in to do.

Huh? What's this?
 

rbenchley

Member
It's pretty widely known that Elop was sent in by MS as a trojan horse to acquire Nokia's handset division on the cheap.

Eh. It might have been the wrong decision to bet the farm on Windows Phone 7, but it was understandable. Symbian was ancient, iOS is Apple only and Nokia was reluctant to be one of many Android phone makers (where only Samsung is making any money right now). They could have pushed Meego, but they would have had to build the entire app ecosystem themselves. Going the Windows Phone route gave them a powerful software partner.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
I know people don't like to hear it, but both darksiders and saints row Could be improved dramatically from capcoms touch


and DmC is going to need a western Dev team. I don't see ninja theory being kept around. Vigil would be a much better fit.

Seeing as DmC would have been a broken turd without Capcom stepping in, I can't help but agree.

It would cause grief and confusion within the Darkstalkers community though :p
 
It's pretty widely known that Elop was sent in by MS as a trojan horse to acquire Nokia's handset division on the cheap.

I'm glad il not the only one that has thought this.


Every decision the man has made has gone against the ethos of the company and seemed to favour Microsoft in some way.

It's fucking shitty because while Samsung stepped up big time, I still believe the current smartphone market to be Nokia's in terms of who deserves to be market leader. They contantly innovated faster than everyone else but were just held back by sticking to a buggy OS, not realising how big touch was going to be and thinking people would keep buying dumb and feature phones when smartphones came on the scene.
 

Scum

Junior Member
?

Why would Rubin do such a thing?

Check out this tidbit from duckroll:

duckroll said:
I think what people need to consider is that it is looking more and more apparent that THQ management has been illegally sabotaging their own company in an attempt to wipe their debt, screw their creditors, and continue to keep their jobs with a new owner which is personally linked to their new president. It's really dodgy shit, which is why they're getting in trouble with it now, and it has nothing to do with the employees in the various studios who work hard making games.

As well as...

duckroll said:
What has come out in the last day or two is that the management could have been deliberately devaluing the company and sabotaging operations to make it seem much more dire than it is. This in turn allowed them to file for Chapter 11, and for their company to go on sale. The illegal part is that this entire scheme was engineered for one purpose: so Clearlake can buy THQ wholesale at as low a price as possible, and also be freed from any debt the company has. This will allow Clearlake to continue running the company as it is, and keeping all the current THQ management employed, while any debt they owed to creditors no longer exist.
 

Almighty

Member
Man this sounds like THQ management tried to pull some underhanded shit. Anyway I hope this doesn't delay South Park or Company of Heroes 2 for very long. In the long term I also hope that who ever grabs(hopefully someone does grab) Relic is PC friendly was well. It would be a shame for one of the best PC and RTS developers to go away.
 
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