The sale of assets is not official yet, and currently being presented to US Bankruptcy Court. The auctioned properties include Relic (and the Company of Heroes franchise), which was won by Sega ($26.6M), with Zenimax Media, which owns Bethesda Softworks, as the backup bidder with $26.3M. UbiSoft was the sole bidder for South Park: The Stick of Truth ($3.2M) and THQ Montreal (including 1666 and Underdog) for $2.5M.
Koch Media won the bid for Volition and the Saints Row franchise for $22.3M (Ubisoft was the backup bidder with a mere $5.4M) as well as the Metro series (including the upcoming Metro: Last Light) for $5.8M, which UbiSoft also bid for for $5.1M. Crytek got the Homefront franchise for a bargain $544K - it’ll be interesting to see what the Crysis developer does with the John Milius property.
All of the rest of THQ’s staff will be laid off, with a token staff remaining at the THQ headquarters to assist with the transition.
CEO Brian Farrell and president Jason Rubin wrote in a statement, “While the company will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will continue under new ownership.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.”
Let us know what you think.
