THQ Down For The Count

Unfortunate news today from publisher and developer THQ as they've auctioned off all of their studios and IP's after filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.



Yes, one of gaming's big ones has gone under. Earlier today it was announced that THQ was going to be selling off it's assets after filing for bankruptcy. This letter, written to the THQ employees by studio president Jason Rubin, explains just what exactly is going to happen to the company. Gamers shouldn't worry though, as many of their studios and intellectual properties were sold to other companies.

One of the companies biggest properties, the WWE series and series developer Yukes, went to Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two is most notably known as the parent company of Grand Theft Auto developers Rockstar. Whether or not Take-Two leaves Yukes intact or not is unknown, but it is still confirmed that WWE 2013 will be out later this year.

Another two of THQ's hit series went to Koch Media. Volition Studio's Saint's Row and THQ's in-house Metro series were sold to the Munich based company for a little over 11 million dollars. Metro: Last Light is still scheduled for a Q1 2013 release. While news is scarce, Saint's Row 4 is rumored to be in development and scheduled for a 2014 release.

Gaming giant Ubisoft also got in on the action, picking up the recently delayed South Park: The Stick Of Truth and THQ's Montreal studios. No word on whether South Park will be delayed again because of this, but it is still scheduled for a March 5th release. Meanwhile, THQ Montreal had two titles in development, 1666 and Underdog. Again, it's unknown whether these titles are still in development or have been put on hold. Another gaming giant, Sega, picked up Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes series. Crytek, makers of Crysis, managed to snag the Homefront series as well.

And so ends the saga of THQ. It is rather unlikely that the company is going to exist in the near future. While it is good to see many talented game developers have found new homes, it's still a bit sad to see such a long-lived company like THQ go under. Hopefully, other great companies don't follow suit.