THQ to be sold off in pieces.

[zanzabar]

This is a disaster, I can't see any of the other big players properly caring for franchises like CoH or DoW.

i think that WB might want 40k, they have the movie rights to it.

[El Mano]

i think that WB might want 40k, they have the movie rights to it.

So GW will allow a movie finally? Good news. Too bad my interest in their IP is long dead, I only care for DoW right now, and I'd much rather have a good CoH2 than a perfect DoWIII.

CoH2 is pretty hardcore, even for experienced RTS players. I doubt EA or Activision would keep that status.

[paulbagz]

EA haven't had a decent RTS since Generals lol and they supported that for all of a few weeks.

-PB

[zanzabar]

So GW will allow a movie finally? Good news. Too bad my interest in their IP is long dead, I only care for DoW right now, and I'd much rather have a good CoH2 than a perfect DoWIII.

CoH2 is pretty hardcore, even for experienced RTS players. I doubt EA or Activision would keep that status.

i dont think they will get a movie, WB owns the rights to it through DC animation that picked it up a long time ago.

i dont see AV ever putting out an RTS since they have starcraft.

[JaD]

I hope Valve get's nothing from this. They continually sit on strong IP but do nothing with it.

better than ruining ip like ea and the likes continuously do. i'm good with waiting.

[raghu78]

sad to see THQ go down. the gaming industry resembles hollywood. The industry is dominated by the super / mega franchises like COD, Battlefield, GTA , Halo, Warcraft. Innovative games with path breaking ideas like Portal are very rare. the industry is just milking these mega franchises. and some of them like COD are repetitive and stale.

the industry needs to rethink the business model, explore different avenues for revenue generation, focus on innovation. Game studios need to reduce risk by simplifying the content development process and tools for content creation. The developers should simplify the process of game development while retaining their focus on gameplay and innovation. Art direction and game direction also should be focussed on simplicity of content creation while not compromising on quality. anyway the industry will be forced to make these changes for its own survival sake.

[himaro]

tbh, my issue with the industry as a whole now is that the dev studios are owned by the publishers. instead of just being publishers.
this restricts everything and leads to situations like these.
they make more money though that way

[raghu78]

tbh, my issue with the industry as a whole now is that the dev studios are owned by the publishers. instead of just being publishers. this restricts everything and leads to situations like these. they make more money though that way

one of the most revered studios and the inventor of the first person genre id software got acquired by Zenimax a couple of years ago. John carmack the founder made an interesting comment. He said game budgets were increasing and the financial burden on the developer was increasing. also cash flow management was getting difficult especially between the releases of games. Rage released 7 years after Doom 3. John carmack agreed there were some critical mistakes he committed during development of Rage like the mega texture technology which made content development even more complex then it already was. this lead to rage taking longer than it would normally take. when a legendary studio like id software which also had game engine licensing revenue succumbed to the financial pressure what chance do smaller studios have.

Independent game studios are becoming a rarity. the few remaining ones are Valve Software, Epic Games, Crytek studios. Developers of popular franchises like Infinity ward (Call of duty) and Bungie (Halo) some times chose to get acquired by publishers like Activision and Microsoft for the financial freedom they got. But that obviously comes at the cost of creative freedom. We need more game studios to develop sound business strategy to manage cash flow, release games at a reasonable pace (once every 2-3 years) and also deliver on innovation and good quality.

[Nikolasz]

THQ rest in pieces.

[ColonelCain]

I really hate business.

[himaro]

i both agree and disagree here
Publishers are a hang over from other media industries when gaming as we know it was starting.
they were the only real means of distributions before internet connections were fast enough.
now, with internet speeds upto scratch and with PSN and Steam, they're becoming increasingly not needed
there are plenty of independent game devs studios out there, but they go by the name of Indy Devs instead.
look at Steam these days and there are hundreds of indy titles.
i understand that big budget games are exactly that, big budget. but if activision can make money out of COD, why cant the studio's ? if it because an independent studio will recieve less of a cut from a publisher?

[DeathReborn]

Personally while I don't want Activision or EA to get anything from this, I do hope someone takes DoW and makes a proper RTS out of it, like the first one. Zenimax/Bethesda or Take-Two/2K Games would be my preferred location for the THQ properties though.

Hell, give Carmack the WH40k License for FPS/TPS and see what he comes up with, should be pretty good.

[FischOderAal]

I hope Valve get's nothing from this. They continually sit on strong IP but do nothing with it.

You seem to mistake "doing nothing" with "working little but steadily and quietly". I can't think of anything better than Valve getting the IP. They might not be the ones who push out a "Triple-A" (or what is called triple-A these days) title each year, but I prefer quality over quantity. More so since I started working and do not have the time to spent as much time gaming as it used to be.

[El Mano]

Bethesda, 2K, Activision, EA... They are the same bull. All of them create console games, which is not a bad thing per se, but I just don't want them to turn CoH into a simplistic console game.

Last thing Carmack did was Rage, which is awful, so I'd rather have him stay far away from CoH/DoW.

[schmuckley]

I hope it's Valve or somebody decent that gets COH
I think Bethesda'd be OK

[kuroikenshi]

So GW will allow a movie finally? Good news. Too bad my interest in their IP is long dead, I only care for DoW right now, and I'd much rather have a good CoH2 than a perfect DoWIII.

CoH2 is pretty hardcore, even for experienced RTS players. I doubt EA or Activision would keep that status.

not sure how much WH40k you played when u were young, I played plenty, lol its so far the only bit from my early days that has managed to stay clean and pure... so lets hope none messes around with it

[Ket]

I can see Rockstar picking up Saints Row, possibly Metro 2033 as well. Rockstar would know how to make those games awesome.

[Ket]

Last thing Carmack did was Rage, which is awful, so I'd rather have him stay far away from CoH/DoW.

He can burn in hell, he basically told the entire PC gaming community (who made him btw) to go f|_|ck themselves. I think everybody knew Rage was going to blow long before it was released. Only a couple months after release I saw Rage being sold for ?7 brand new, I still didn't buy it.

[Hornet331]

So it seems sega is interested/picking up relic and Volition to koch media, imho a lot better ea/activision/ubi.

edit:

To All THQ Employees:

We now have the answers we've been seeking through our financial restructuring and
Chapter 11 case. While much will be written, here are the facts of the bids and auction
that occurred t:

Yesterday morning, we received a competing bid for the operating business,
along with Clearlake's offer, and numerous offers for separate assets.
During an auction process that lasted over 22 hours, the final conclusion was
that the separate-asset bids would net more than a single buyer for the majority
of the company.
Shortly, we will, present the results to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which must
concur with our assessment.
The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :
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

We expect these sales to close this week.

Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other
intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of
the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

Official numbers.

Relic and Company of Heroes
Winning bid: $26.6 million - Sega Corporation
Backup bidder: $26.3 million - Zenimax Media

THQ Montreal, with 1666 and Underdog
Winning bid: $2.5 million - Ubisoft
Backup bidder: N/A

Evolve aka Metamorphosis
Winning bid: $10.894 million - Take-Two Interactive
Backup bidder: $250,000 Turtle Rock Studios, Inc.

Volition and Saints Row
Winning bid: $22.3 million - Koch Media GmbH (Deep Silver)
Backup bidder: $5.4 million - Ubisoft

Homefront
Winning bid: $544,218 - Crytek GmbH
Backup bidder: N/A

Metro, which includes 2033 and 2034
Winning bid: $5,877,551 - Koch Media GmbH (Deep Silver)
Backup bidder: $5.175 million - Ubisoft

South Park: The Stick of Truth
Winning bid: $3,265,306 - Ubisoft
Backup bidder: N/A

[El Mano]

Sega got Relic, that's awesome!!
Sega publishes the Total War saga, which are some of the best PC games you can buy these days.
I'm happy with this, Relic might continue their fine work now.

[zanzabar]

here is a list of all of the accepted bids
http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/23/390...tter-to-staff/

EA and AVB did not get anything so that should be good.

[Cold Fussion]

Sega got Relic, that's awesome!!
Sega publishes the Total War saga, which are some of the best PC games you can buy these days.
I'm happy with this, Relic might continue their fine work now.

Sega getting relic means we wont get consolised crap from relic but lets not kid ourselves, the total war series are buggier than most console ports.

[himaro]

I've updated the opening post linking to PCG and to Hornets post.
Imo it could have been worse, EA and AVB didn't their IP Blood Soaked hands on them.
but who the hell is Koch Media?!? i hope they treat Metro with the respect it deserves.
CoH and WH:40K to Sega isn't bad, they seem to be doing well with Total War atm.
THQ Montreal to Ubisoft, i dont like ubi but they have an office in montreal as well don't they? so i guess it makes sense

[DeathReborn]

I've updated the opening post linking to PCG and to Hornets post.
Imo it could have been worse, EA and AVB didn't their IP Blood Soaked hands on them.
but who the hell is Koch Media?!? i hope they treat Metro with the respect it deserves.
CoH and WH:40K to Sega isn't bad, they seem to be doing well with Total War atm.
THQ Montreal to Ubisoft, i dont like ubi but they have an office in montreal as well don't they? so i guess it makes sense

Koch Media have taken some flak lately for Sacred 3, both 1 & 2 are open world Diablo clones essentially, they have removed open world and put in more cheap MP to cover up cuts in gameplay. They are also responsible "supposedly" for the dropping of a new patch for Risen 2. Deep Silver are a good company but are under a EA lite dictatorship right now.

[Ket]

3 things.

1. Metro only went for 5.8 million? (I know "only") thats one of the better games... went far too cheaply IMO.
2. Crytek are total cheapskates
3. I'm saddened Turtle Rock didn't get back Evolve