THQ is dead: cancels all 2014 games including Warhammer MMO, looks for buyers

[His Master's Voice]

THQ could own the rights to the WH40K games, but those rights limit only them to producing the game.

If Games Workshop didn't put a termination clause in the licence agreement, they should probably perform Exterminatus on their in house legal team.

[gundato]

Wow. Sega is doing better than I thought. Where the hell does that money come from? :p

I dunno. I can't realy think of a better choice, but at the same time I also just have a bad feeling.

And I forgot the FB aspect. So it makes sense, try and get all Warhammer games under the same studio (because GW will probably be cool with licensing to whoever owns Relic).

[palindrome]

If Games Workshop didn't put a termination clause in the licence agreement, they should probably perform Exterminatus on their in house legal team.

GW's legal team if famously inept, they can't even be bothered actually filing copyrights.

[Sucram]

If Games Workshop didn't put a termination clause in the licence agreement, they should probably perform Exterminatus on their in house legal team.

Since GW already have a licensing agreement with SEGA they probably wouldn't mind SEGA getting the 40K license but it does seem odd that GW would give THQ a publishing license to 40K games that THQ could sell to another party.

The results of this auction are likely to be far more complex than the rumour mill is making out and aspects of it will be contested.

[SirKicksalot]

Apparently the auction is over. Hold on to your butts...

Wow. Sega is doing better than I thought. Where the hell does that money come from? :p

From crazy Japanese hobbies. The other company in the holding is making these pachinko machines.

[The JG Man]

Last news, Sega did have Relic, but that is based on information from last night. Things could've changed. That said, it seems like that's remained true (dev at Relic). EDIT: Further talk/mutterings suggest this is increasingly likely to be the truth.

Rumours point to Ubisoft publishing South Park. EDIT: Also THQ Montreal, Patrice Desélit's team. This is slightly humorous considering he was the brain behind Assassin's Creed, before leaving Ubi.

Based on this post from NeoGAF, as well as a link to a Twitter page, it seems like Vigil did not survive. EDIT: Rumours suggest Take 2 bought Vigil IPs, but not the studio/assets.

More information should be available at 9pm GMT, I believe. Might have that way off considering I'm doing some conversions of times I'm not sure of. Things likely to be delayed too. Etc.

[Kodeen]

Based on this post from NeoGAF, as well as a link to a Twitter page, it seems like Vigil did not survive.

Well, poop. Their only product may not have been that attractive to buyers, but the team itself definitely had talent.

[Kadayi]

Weird I'm surprised that Activision weren't making use of all that WoW warchest money they have stashed away. They could do with some new IPs.

[The JG Man]

Well, poop. Their only product may not have been that attractive to buyers, but the team itself definitely had talent.

It seems like the reverse, actually. Take 2 might have bought the Darksiders IP, but left the team. It's possible by 'assets' too it'd include any work on the Warhammer 40K MMO. That'd...be interesting considering Take 2 has seemingly had no interest in any licensing to date.

Incidentally, Vigil is based in the same town as Retro Studios, who are currently a first party developer for Nintendo. Their works are usually heralded as being great, really nailing what made the classic Nintendo franchises good in the first place. A lot of people were hopefully Nintendo would actually buy Vigil to help on the next Zelda. It was never going to happen, but the thought is amusing. People would've also been happy for Retro to make it. Whatever, it seems like it's curtains closed for Vigil.

Weird I'm surprised that Activision weren't making use of all that WoW warchest money they have stashed away. They could do with some new IPs.

I dunno, there's nothing I can think of in THQ's catalogue that can be serialised into annual releases and then left to die when they eventually crash and burn. Well, except the uDraw, but that's already happened.

Okay, I swear, no more smugness after this. People are losing their jobs, this ain't cool.

EDIT: Remember, everything up to this point are rumours or simply unconfirmed Wait for the official court release notes before celebrating/crying/whatevering.

EDIT: 2 - I hope Sumo Digital now makes a Space Marine character for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. That'd be amazing. (It'll never happen, but a man can dream.)

[SirKicksalot]

Patrice going back to Ubisoft is fucking hilarious!

[Kadayi]

Patrice going back to Ubisoft is fucking hilarious!

Presuming he stays. He might decant elsewhere. I doubt he's tied to a contract.

[gundato]

Apparently the auction is over. Hold on to your butts...



From crazy Japanese hobbies. The other company in the holding is making these pachinko machines.

Oh those crazy Japaneses :)

Makes sense. Then I guess Sega might be a good choice if the vast majority of their income is NOT video game related.

[SirKicksalot]

http://kotaku.com/5978429/this-is-the-letter-that-thq-sent-to-employees-today

• Sega agreed to purchase Relic
• Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
• Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
• Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve and
• Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park

Everything went better than expected! Koch Media and Crytek are laughing all the way to the bank, especially Crytek who got Homefront for free since they were being paid to develop it anyway! They got it for the minimum price apparently.

[The JG Man]

EDIT: Oh, screw you SirKickasalot! Nicely, that is. I'll add in some details:

Koch Media's gaming label is Deep Silve, notable publishing for them includes Dead Island and the X space-sim series. Their purchase of Metro should only be publishing rights, as 4A Studios is independent and only they had the license for the Metro franchise.

With regards to Crytek and Homefront, as SirKicksalot mentioned above, they're working on the sequel. This is surely an IP ownership grab. I had read a floated idea that they only paid $500,000 though, which is the smallest bid I believe.

Ubisoft's purchase of South Park will again, likely only be for publishing.

In addition, some IPs, along with the Vigil development studio, have not been sold.

[FriendlyFire]

Vigil not finding a buyer is rather sad. I'm hopeful that Relic is in good hands with Sega, though. If they can be hands off like they are with Total War, we could have two/three (depending on whether DoW stays with Relic or not) good series of RTS games from Sega.

[danas]

Funcom had started initial research into the Warhammer 40k MMO and had a team of 5 people working on it.

However that obviously is no longer happening. The deal fell through with Games Workshop likely due to the "restructuring" in Montreal and the disappointing performance of the Secret World.

[Kodeen]

It seems like the reverse, actually. Take 2 might have bought the Darksiders IP, but left the team.

That is quite unexpected. Red Dead Revelations, perhaps?

In addition, some IPs, along with the Vigil development studio, have not been sold.

Which ones? It might not be a bad idea to make some panic purchases.

[The JG Man]

It's worth considering that the budget for Rome 2 doubled; Sega clearly has faith in Creative Assembly. Given that Relic also provides steady hits, I can't see why that wouldn't be at all the same. Considering Sega has the Warhammer fantasy license and that Games Workshop has clearly worked closely with Relic and vice-versa, I would be surprised if a further deal wasn't extended to Sega for Relic's benefit.

In addition, any studio not sold is, effectively, closed as of now. That means there's a lot of people out of jobs.

EDIT:

@danas - Vigil was constructed to make "Dark Millennium", but as this thread alludes to, that was changed. I imagine it's now been scrapped, however the assets will still exist, so if someone wanted something, I could see someone paying nothing for them. Of course you'd need the WH40K license. And perhaps Vigil.

@Kodeen - RD Revelations could be pretty cool, considering there was a suggestion one of the riders would be a gunman, but hey, look forward to not having that PC release! Also, I preferred Darksiders to RDR, but that possibly makes me mad.

No idea on the other IPs though. Not officially announced, I believe.

EDIT 2: It's been pointed out to me that 'Evolve' is by Turtle Rock Studios (Left 4 Dead). Intriguing to see what T2 do with them.

EDIT 3: The bids are available online, but interesting Relic sold for the most, $26m, with Volition in behind with $22.3m. The lowest was Crytek for Homefront, which was $.5m. Worth nothing, in case you weren't sure, that studios bought include any development they were working on, unless specifically mentioned.

[Dave L.]

Evolve is Turtle Rock's shooter.

I'm still curious about what happened with all the other owned IPs that weren't in development. Were Red Faction and Summoner bundled with Volition and Saints Row? Does Homeworld stay with Relic? Or do those all end up in creditor limbo like System Shock?

[edit]initially I was surprised that EA didn't pick anything up, but thinking about it, the amount of work required to tear Steamworks out of the PC versions and replace it with Origin probably tipped the ROI potential just past 'not good enough.'

[Kadayi]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-of...-updated/4529/

Moneys spent: -

$500k Homefront (Crytek)
$26M for Relic (Sega)
$2.5M for THQ Montreal (Ubisoft)
$3.2M for South Park (Ubisoft)
$11M for Evolve (Take-Two)
$22.3M for Volition (Koch Media)
$5.8M for Metro (Koch Media)

Really surprised neither EA, Activision or Bethesda seem to have been involved