In case you haven't heard, yet another of the storied companies from gaming history has gone under.
THQ literally Toy Headquarters, has sold off most of its properties. They couldn't remain profitable enough for their investors to support their rebuilding plans and found themselves hamstrung.
Even after the US government blocked the flood of money from a possible purchase by Clearlake Capital Group, THQ was just not able to find a response to bleeding money. They hired some very high profile talent to create new properties, none of which ever amounted to anything real, and they caved at the demand of debt that was nagging at the door ever month they failed to post solid returns.
In the end, THQ made some enemies, most seriously of gamers. They were openly pushing sales of games like Homefront, even though they were not honoring the online codes or supporting the servers. Eventually their servers were shuttered as well.
So there are so many reasons to hold a grudge if you were one of those fans who say, played Saints Row the 3rd and saw server troubles get bad and then get so bad it was just not worth the effort.
Here's a run down of where current sales have left the game list from THQ and it's studio system.
1) The big buyer was Koch Media who purchased Volition Studios and its Saints Row franchise. They also purchased Metro: the last light.
2) Sega jumped at the chance to buy Company of Heroes and Canadian studio RELIC.
They plan to use this to boost their international development structure and add to their current roster of products.
3) Take two has purchased one of the more positive projects that THQ had coming along, Evolve being developed by Turtle Rock Studios( Creators of Left for Dead) .
4) EA previously purchased THQ's rights to make UFC games giving EA yet another monopoly over a sport. They now have exclusive rights to make MMA and UFC games.
5) A major shift has occurred due to Ubisoft purchasing THQ Montreal and the South Park: Stick of Truth rpg, even though the game has been delayed repeatedly, its coming along and should be a huge game for Ubisoft. However the bigger news is the already solid Ubisoft Montreal is getting an influx of some great past THQ talent with this purchase.
6) Possibly the most risky purchase is the acquisition of the Homefront series and the rights to finish and release Homefront 2 by Crytek, makers of the Crysis series.
Still on the table, rights to WWE games, the rights to THQ's extensive back catalog, and its array of web gaming and mobile gaming titles that hadn't all even been released.
The future of star talents like Patrice Desilets and even some of Volition's programmers are unknown at this time. A lot depends on what Koch Media is able to do with the properties. Look for EA, Rockstar, or Ubisoft to get involved with publishing games on behalf of Koch. Maybe even Valve, they have the infrastructure with Steam if they decide to buy the rights to all the THQ back log of games.
In yet another odd bit of news. Developer Vigil, owned by THQ, has not been sold, which puts the future of the Darksiders and Warhammer games at risk. Not too mention the big series, Red Faction, which hasn't been well treated by THQ recently. Other games, that had been on placed on hiatus, may get revived by their new owners. But it will be a little bit of time to see who purchases what in the future. These back log games will need an especially careful review by prospective buyers. So it will be a process to wait and see who takes on what titles.
Truly 2012 was not a good year for development studios.
Other closures in 2012 include Monument Studios, Rockstar Vancouver, Black Hole entertainment, Hudson Soft (makers of bomberman), Sony Liverpool, Zipper Interactive, 38 Studios (Curt Schilling's rediculously flawed plan), Big Huge Games, THQ San Diego (closed instead of being sold), Bright Light Studios, BIGBIG games, HB Studios Halifax, Paragon Studios (creator of City of Heroes), and of course THQ as a brand.
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