THQ Officially Dissolving
By Kevin Mitchell
Posted on January 23, 2013
Update: Although originally reported that it looked like EA bought the WWE license, it seems that Take-Two Interactive is the actually owner of the license now.
The end of an era.
THQ, as we know it, will cease to exist after the bankruptcy hearing and sales of IPs are finalized. Kotaku was able to obtain a letter that was sent to THQ employees today, the highlights can be seen below:
- Relic Entertainment and Company of Heroes has been purchased by Sega for $26.6 million. Zenimax Media, who owns Bethesda was the runner-up at $26.3 million.
- THQ Montreal with both 1666 and Underdog in development has been purchased by Ubisoft for $2.5 million.
- Take-Two Interactive has purchased Evolve – the title from Turtle Rock Studios for $10.894 million. The runner-up was actually Turtle Rock, who looked to buy the rights to the title they are developing for $250,000.
- Volition, Inc and the Saints Row brand, has been purchased by Koch Media, the parent company of publisher Deep Silver (Dead Island), for a cool $22,312,925. Ubisoft was the runner-up at a mere $5.4 million offered.
- Crytek has purchased the rights to Homefront for a measly $544,218.
- Koch Media also acquired the Metro franchise for $5.8 million with Ubisoft once again the runner-up.
- South Park: The Stick of Truth, which is set to release in March was purchased by Ubisoft for $3.2 million. No details were given on how this will affect the pending lawsuit from South Park Studios’ who were trying to prevent the sale of the IP.
A few notable franchise have not been accounted for, most notably the WWE license and Vigil Games, developer behind Darksiders.
The current rumors floating around claims, that EA has purchased the WWE license and sadly, it is looking more and more likely that Vigil Games did not survive the auction. We will try and get concrete information if possible. Also, look forward to some THQ focused features and live streams at the end of the week.
