THQ Officially Dissolving as Bankruptcy Auction Yields Multiple Buyers [UPDATEDx2]

I read on Eurogamer that EA might have picked up the WWE license last week. This is the only site that I have read that on so I would still consider it a rumor until otherwise, obviously.

Not sure how I feel about relic going to Sega, but as long as they let them do their thing like they do the total war guys I will be happy. If Games Workshop lets the 40k licence stay with them it looks like Sega has become the Warhammer factory over night. Crazy world we live in.

The only other thing on that list I care about is the South Park game. I hope now that Ubisoft has its dirty hands on it that they don't start seeing what they can do to fuck over the PC release. I wouldn't be surprised to see them at the very least doing a Ubidelay and delaying the release for a few month. God I hate that company.

I will also be interested in seeing what happens to the WWE games. I hope whomever picks it up stops it from being an annual release. That's a series that can use a couple years off in between to get that much better. Will be curious to see if they end up just pushing out the same style or go in a different direction. God dam I just hope EA doesn't get it. I can just imagine how badly they would nickle and dime that game to death.

Anyone have any ideas as to what will happen to Metro? I thought the devs held all the rights to it..

Darksiders :(

Relic to Sega makes me happy, actually :) The best outcome of a bad situation.

@heatDrive88 said:

@CornBREDX said:

As much as it sucks, Darksiders was a middle of the road game. Ya, it has it's charm (Darksiders 2 is one of my favorite games last year) but not many people bought either one. Currently everybody is trying to position themselves for next gen and I suspect this is why no one (at least right now) cares about Vigil. Hopefully they can get in with somebody, but I don't know who could be a good fit that would be in the market for another development team. I'm not trying to be mean, I do like their work and believe they have passion as developers, but they have a long road ahead of them.

I agree with you 100%, but let's put this into perspective.

Someone bought Homefront for 500k.

HOMEFRONT.

Yeah, but that's just because Crytek are already working on the sequel.

Ubisoft paying less to own THQ Montreal than just the publishing rights to South Park, though, is weird.

PC developer, the most valuable thing THQ had, now ain't that ironic.

sad,,, i guess there will be no darksiders 3

nevermind me buying vigil, we should let Curt Shilling do that instead

Reading this story saddens me in a way. I'm especially concerned about Volition and the Metro franchise being bought by Koch Media as I haven't enjoyed most of their games in the past also, a fact that others have mentioned already is that they don't have a particularly large budget.

I just hope that the next Volition and Metro game don't end getting hurt due to low budgets.

@fustacluck: A Homefront sequel was already being worked on by Crytek previous to this fire sale? I didn't know that.

@OneKillWonder_ said:

@alibson said:

People flipping out about Deep Silver publishing a game where you smack people on the head with a giant pink dildo.

The hypocrisy is strong with these ones.

I think a lot of people, myself included, are upset with Deep Silver's acquisition of Volition because they are known for putting out mostly bad to mediocre low-budget games. What worries me is that they can't supply Volition with the budget they need to make the highest quality game possible. The last thing anyone wants is a cheap Saint's Row. I'm actually pretty shocked that there weren't higher offers for the studio. I thought for sure someone like Warner Bros. would go for them. It's a shame.

This.

Saints Row seems like it should be a much bigger franchise that anything Deep Silver has managed. And I don't have a lot of confidence that they will be able to. In fact I'd doubt they can afford to keep Volition at its current size and strength.

But I would love for them to prove me wrong.

@Vash108 said:

I am not sure how I feel about SEGA with Relic.

Makes sense, really, bringing the Warhammer licences together under one roof.

@FrankCanada97 said:

@alternate said:

WWE wasn't on sale Alex. Rights reverted to the wrestling company and rumour is they have already done a deal with EA.

Also, are you sure about metro - I think publishing rights were available but THQ didn't own the IP.

Page five of the pdf.

http://www.thesangreal.net/gafpics/results.pdf

I think that is just publishing rights they bought. The wording is the same for all the lots - even south park which we know the ip is not for sale. Also the amount paid is too little for the whole ip, but about right for the publishing rights.

Patrick hit the nail on the hammer in the podcast.

@genpatton7 said:

Between CA and Relic, Sega will be a real powerhouse in the PC RTS market.

That sentence is insane.

didn't homefront sell really well in the end? sounds like it may be a bargain.

e: not saying anything about the game quality, just the lucrative business side of it...

@ZombiePie said:

Sega will be taking control of Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment.

I bet top dollar that Relic is going to become a division of The Creative Assembly, which is part of Sega Europe, or there's going to be collaboration between the two seeing how The Creative Assembly is planning on making non 40k Warhammer games. So this is good news for Warhammer and Relic fans because now Relic is part of a program that knows how to make and promote strategy games.

Crazy to hear Vigil games go under.

Exactly this. This seems like a dream senerio for Relic and Warhammer fans. Sega has shown they can handle a RTS studio without messing it up, and now between Creative and Relic they have all the warhammer teams to make amazing warhammer RTSes.

Koch must be smarting a bit, paying 22 million for Volition when they now realise they could have got it for about 6.

@heatDrive88 said:

@fustacluck: A Homefront sequel was already being worked on by Crytek previous to this fire sale? I didn't know that.

Yeah, imaginitively titled "Homefront 2"

Interested to see how the South Park situation shakes out.

@a5ehren said:

@ripelivejam said:

deep silver was a big surprise, pretty good get for them. what have they done besides dead island that was big? hope vigil finds a home...

They did a Stalker prequel and the X space sims. Then a bunch of really, really bad games. I'm sure Alex Navarro has seen plenty of their handiwork over the years.

The only other thing by them that I've played was Cursed Mountain for the Wii. I like some of the ideas in the game, but let's just say...it's a bit underwhelming.

So what the hell is "Evolve" and why did someone pay 11 million dollars for it? The court documents call it "Metamorphosis aka Evolve" and show it runs on Cryengine 3 but nothing else. Curious.

What the fuck are you doing Crytek!?

@Alex:Koch Media, the parent company of Dead Island publisher Deep Silver, has purchased Volition Inc. and the Saints Row brand, as well as the Metro franchise.

I guess that means we can expect actual giant purple dildos and military-grade bullets for the next collector's editions for Saints Row and Metro, respectively?

Damn, this is sad news indeed.

Man, end of an era. Lots of eras ending these days :(

By my quick calcs, that's $71.3 million paid for these properties so far, already more than the $60 million offered by Clearlake. I guess the creditors got what they wanted.

I think sega buying relic is weird. I think vigil either sold for a lot of money and we don't know or something else which I can't think of yet.

Don't fuck this up, Sega!

@daggon55 said:

@OneKillWonder_ said:

@alibson said:

People flipping out about Deep Silver publishing a game where you smack people on the head with a giant pink dildo.

The hypocrisy is strong with these ones.

I think a lot of people, myself included, are upset with Deep Silver's acquisition of Volition because they are known for putting out mostly bad to mediocre low-budget games. What worries me is that they can't supply Volition with the budget they need to make the highest quality game possible. The last thing anyone wants is a cheap Saint's Row. I'm actually pretty shocked that there weren't higher offers for the studio. I thought for sure someone like Warner Bros. would go for them. It's a shame.

This.

Saints Row seems like it should be a much bigger franchise that anything Deep Silver has managed. And I don't have a lot of confidence that they will. In fact I'd doubt they can afford to keep Volition at its current size and strength.

Don't panic. Volition's been bought by the owners of Deep Silver. DS will probably have nothing to do with Volition, as 2K has nothing to do with Rockstar, yet they're both owned by Take 2.

As long as Metro Last light comes out this year, I'm happy. Also now maybe we'll have a space marine sequel! THQ shot that one down pretty hard because of lack of funds, but hopefully things have changed!

But most important of all, whatever happens, just let the new Metro game still come out this year.

Deep Silver doesn't have a good track record of good games? You do realise THQ released crappy games too.

@StarvingGamer said:

"for some reason"

Hah!

I thought the same thing, then read it immediately after.

If nothing else, at least Volition and Saints Row are still together.

I've heard rumors that Sega also got its hands on the Dawn of War and possibly the 40k licence. Is there any truth to that? has anyone heard the same?

Costume Quest!! WHO HAS COSTUME QUEST?!

@JoeyRavn said:

@Alex:Koch Media, the parent company of Dead Island publisher Deep Silver, has purchased Volition Inc. and the Saints Row brand, as well as the Metro franchise.

I guess that means we can expect actual giant purple dildos and military-grade bullets for the next collector's editions for Saints Row and Metro, respectively?

Maybe in America, given that the latter would be legal there. It would give journalists on the other side of the pond the chance to piss and moan and shut down your special editions, for a change, despite the fact it would have nothing to do with them.

Does relic keep the 40K franchise now that they're owned by someone else or does that go back to games workshop?

Your right home front shows Promise riplivejam u are so right

@deyanne said:

Does relic keep the 40K franchise now that they're owned by someone else or does that go back to games workshop?

It goes to Games Workshop.

It's really a slam dunk though for them to go back to Relic. Games Workshop loves the relationship from the DoW series and SEGA has the Warhammer fantasy license via Creative Assembly with Games Workshop right now... so really I think it's all but certain for Relic to continue on WH 40k.

is koch media owned by the those right wing billionaire brothers that set up that PAC?

@deyanne said:

Does relic keep the 40K franchise now that they're owned by someone else or does that go back to games workshop?

Presumably that's up to Games Workshop now (likely someone will tweet something official soon enough). Though I'd be surprised if they had any problems with 40k being under Sega since they already licensed the regular fantasy-style Warhammer to them

Someone needs to buy Vigil and Darksiders. There's two fucking Horsemen left and even though I didn't love Darksiders II as much as I wanted to, there's no way in hell I'm leaving that thing hanging.

I'm also super sad that my dream crossover of Saints Row, Sleeping Dogs and Just Cause will never happen. Fuck you, Squeenix, how the fuck could you mess this up?

This is all nuts.

Am i the only one that thinks Crytek could make a Homefront game work?

People need to stop freaking about the Deep Silver thing. Deep Silver didnt buy Volition, their parent company did. Likely they will host Volition as a new "label" under the Koch umbrella. I doubt they will steer Volition away from making Saints Row. Considering the two names are synonymous. Koch does good business and im sure they will give Volition they funding they need.

@shades846 said:

is koch media owned by the those right wing billionaire brothers that set up that PAC?

No, nothing to do with them.

Kind of crazy how Sega is going all out on the RTS developers. First they buy Total War and now Relic? Crazy. Apparently they went out of their way to outbid Zenimax who bid 26.3 million for Relic.

As soon as I saw Deep Silver bought the Saints Row franchise, I felt like crying, and I don't know why...

Hopefully they'll leave Volition the fuck alone.

@a5ehren said:

@400lb_Gorilla said:

Not sure how I feel about Deep Silver getting Saints Row.

Even beyond the recent controversy, they have a pretty bad history of publishing bad games. I can't imagine Volition will get a bigger budget or anything.

Its not Deep Silver its the parent company Koch Media who owns Deep Silver.

WIth sega now being the overlords of PC strategy I'd say chances are better than ever for a revival of Homeworld (which relic owns)

- little research points to them NOT getting Homeworld in the deal afterall. Spiritual Successor HO!