THQ officially gone and licenses in new hands...

THQ is no more. The company will be broken apart and its games sold to at least five different companies, according to a letter sent to employees today from CEO Brian Farrell and president Jason Rubin. Kotaku obtained the letter, which further states THQ is currently presenting its case to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The proposed sale, including sales figures and backup bidders for each, is below.

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

THQ Montreal, including 1666 and Underdog
Winning bid: $2.5 million - Ubisoft
Backup bidder: None

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

Volition and Saints Row franchise
Winning bid: $22.3 million - Koch Media
Backup bidder: $5.4 million - Ubisoft

Homefront franchise
Winning bid: $544,218 - Crytek
Backup bidder: None

Metro franchise
Winning bid: $5,877,551 - Koch Media
Backup bidder: $5.175 million - Ubisoft

South Park: The Stick of Truth
Winning bid: $3,265,306 - Ubisoft
Backup bidder: None

The fate of the Darksiders franchise and its developer Vigil Games is unknown. Farrell and Rubin said, "We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible."

The formal THQ auction document reveals an unannounced game from THQ Montreal called "Underdog." This is in addition to the company's still-unannounced "1666" and could be a working title.

The document also suggests High Voltage Software (The Conduit) is working with Volition Inc. on development on Saints Row 4, though it is not clear in what capacity.

Farrell and Rubin said most employees included in the sale will be offered jobs by their new owners. However, this is not a certainty, and "there will likely be some positions that will not need to be needed under the new ownership," they said.

All employees of a company not included in the sale will be out of a job. A "small number" of staff at THQ headquarters in Agoura Hills, California will remain employed beyond January 25 to[..]ist in the transition.

"While the company will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will continue under new ownership," Farrell and Rubin said. "We were hoping that the entire company would remain intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be operating as part of new organizations.

"For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you take the next steps in your career," they said.

Separately, THQ bankruptcy representatives told GameSpot today that an official announcement will be made once it has approval from the court and from the company's lawyers. No specific timetable was provided

Source


ALso to update the article... WWE has removed THQ of the license and shopped the title around themselves (THQ owed WWE $45 MIllion) and rumor has it EA or 2K got the License but WWE hasn't made an official announcement yet... (Hearing ALOT of rumors EA got it) but i'll update when I find out officially


Thank to Munie for posting this maybe those rumors are wrong

Beat me to it [pic]

gonna be interesting to see what crytek does with homefront

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2K wouldn't be a bad fit for WWE. Hmm I'm wondering whats going on over at EA since they didn't grab anything.

ya the multiplayer game play was good which is why im gonna keep an eye out on crytek to see what they do with future installments.

and yes im also surprised EA didnt try to outbid everyone for the WWE licensing.

^^^ WWE wasn't up for bidding... WWE kicked THQ out of the license and shopped it themselves... 2K offered the best package

[pic] now I've seen everything on this site first too human now this

ahh ok that must of been one rough negotiation cause that licensing is worth a ton of !!ing money.

EA has MMA. no need to pick up WWe.

Who is making the next ufc undisputed game?

EA has the rights to UFC now

Evolve aka Metamorphosis

Wtf is this never heard of this game

They need to make a better ufc game that's less stiff and robotic

there was an article a while back saying the main team thats developing the next UFC game is gonna have help from the team that created the pro boxing fight night games.

[pic] cool the next game should be dope

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yall aint played EA MMA? !! was/is fire.

couldnt touch UFC games after playing that.

When it was originally announced it was a game similar to sim city...you start off as something (Don't remember if it was human or what) and you evolve into something better by merging in stead of growing... so like they said you could have a human merge with a butterfly and the human will have wings then you could merge with a squirrel and have a tail and wings...it sounded kind of cool but I didn't think it was actually being made... I remember it being sort of a tech demo for a new engine

Off topic but what's up with the NFL license? Doesn't it expire the end of this season with EA?