Multiple sources are reporting that financially beleaguered publisher THQ has come to an agreement to auction off its properties and assets piecemeal. This comes after the publisher's bid for bankruptcy had been held up by a US bankruptcy judge following complaints from the company's creditors.
Initially, THQ had planned to sell the company to Clearlake, a venture capital firm who THQ had direct dealings with in crafting its attempted bankruptcy settlement. However, not long after news of the deal went public, creditors began to complain that the company was trying to sell too quickly, and that THQ might be trying to railroad a deal through without listening to other potential bids.
Judge Mary F. Walrath apparently agreed, holding up the Clearlake deal while arranging a hearing today to determine how THQ's bankruptcy should proceed. According to the twitter feed of Distressed-Debt Investing (who have been at today's hearing), it sounds as though a deal to allow for other publishers to bid on individual THQ properties has been reached, with an auction scheduled on January 22.
Who might be interested in the aforementioned properties? EA has reportedly already been inspecting potential assets, while Warner Bros.--who already had a go at some distressed video game properties back when Midway shuttered--has evidently shown an interest as well.
So, who wants to play a game of "match the publisher with the property?" I'll start by saying that I don't want EA to take the WWE license. I've seen what they're into when it comes to wrestling games, and say NOPE. Maybe Ubisoft? Or Warner Bros?
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