@drakesfortune said:

It's funny hearing people say that they didn't think this would happen to THQ. America as an entity is in worse shape htan THQ. Our debt situation is dire. We borrow half of what we spend. Our government just passed a MASSIVE new entitlement that will compound both our short and long term financial problems. And we re-elected the guy that got us to this point. We re-elected the guy who is doing exactly nothing to fix the problem. America is headed for a financial collapse MUCH worse than the Great Depression. President obama's plans to fix the crisis are worse than THQs UDraw solution. The reason tax revenue is so low is because employment is so low. The reason government expenditures are so high right now is because unemployment benefits are being paid out in record numbers. Obama's solution to these problems? Raise taxes on the very people you need to create jobs. As someone who owns a business, this is EXACTLY the wrong thing to do. High taxes make it not just difficult to hire more employees, they make it IMPOSSIBLE. For me, my inventory is counted as an asset. That means that if I invest more money in inventory, I still pay roughly 50 percent on the money I've invested in inventory growth. The net effect is that taxing my efforts to grow my business at 50 percent slows my growth to a trickle. In the eyes of the government I'm an evil one percenter. In reality, I pay myself about 40 grand per year. That 40 grand is taxed at the high rate too, so what I bring home to my family in real dollars is much less than that. Our tax code is the dumbest it could be, and Obama and his business ignorant politicians are the reason you can't find a job, your wages are stagnant, your work benefits are being cut. It's VERY simple math. So was THQs math. It was obvious to me they were DOOMED several years ago. Their only hope was a MASSIVE call of duty style blockbuster. Ie insert gambling metaphor.

Dont even get me started on THQ's bloated defence budget.

Excellent article.

A good recap.

@drakesfortune said:

It's funny hearing people say that they didn't think this would happen to THQ. America as an entity is in worse shape htan THQ. Our debt situation is dire. We borrow half of what we spend. Our government just passed a MASSIVE new entitlement that will compound both our short and long term financial problems. And we re-elected the guy that got us to this point. We re-elected the guy who is doing exactly nothing to fix the problem. America is headed for a financial collapse MUCH worse than the Great Depression. President obama's plans to fix the crisis are worse than THQs UDraw solution. The reason tax revenue is so low is because employment is so low. The reason government expenditures are so high right now is because unemployment benefits are being paid out in record numbers. Obama's solution to these problems? Raise taxes on the very people you need to create jobs. As someone who owns a business, this is EXACTLY the wrong thing to do. High taxes make it not just difficult to hire more employees, they make it IMPOSSIBLE. For me, my inventory is counted as an asset. That means that if I invest more money in inventory, I still pay roughly 50 percent on the money I've invested in inventory growth. The net effect is that taxing my efforts to grow my business at 50 percent slows my growth to a trickle. In the eyes of the government I'm an evil one percenter. In reality, I pay myself about 40 grand per year. That 40 grand is taxed at the high rate too, so what I bring home to my family in real dollars is much less than that. Our tax code is the dumbest it could be, and Obama and his business ignorant politicians are the reason you can't find a job, your wages are stagnant, your work benefits are being cut. It's VERY simple math. So was THQs math. It was obvious to me they were DOOMED several years ago. Their only hope was a MASSIVE call of duty style blockbuster. Ie insert gambling metaphor.

You need a new tax lawyer. You also need to learn math if you think that $40,000 = 1%

Also, way to derail a conversation, teabag.

I'm curious as to if Double Fine were to purchase their own games from this auction.

Great write up Alex.

@Splodge said:

@drakesfortune said:

It's funny hearing people say that they didn't think this would happen to THQ. America as an entity is in worse shape htan THQ. Our debt situation is dire. We borrow half of what we spend. Our government just passed a MASSIVE new entitlement that will compound both our short and long term financial problems. And we re-elected the guy that got us to this point. We re-elected the guy who is doing exactly nothing to fix the problem. America is headed for a financial collapse MUCH worse than the Great Depression. President obama's plans to fix the crisis are worse than THQs UDraw solution. The reason tax revenue is so low is because employment is so low. The reason government expenditures are so high right now is because unemployment benefits are being paid out in record numbers. Obama's solution to these problems? Raise taxes on the very people you need to create jobs. As someone who owns a business, this is EXACTLY the wrong thing to do. High taxes make it not just difficult to hire more employees, they make it IMPOSSIBLE. For me, my inventory is counted as an asset. That means that if I invest more money in inventory, I still pay roughly 50 percent on the money I've invested in inventory growth. The net effect is that taxing my efforts to grow my business at 50 percent slows my growth to a trickle. In the eyes of the government I'm an evil one percenter. In reality, I pay myself about 40 grand per year. That 40 grand is taxed at the high rate too, so what I bring home to my family in real dollars is much less than that. Our tax code is the dumbest it could be, and Obama and his business ignorant politicians are the reason you can't find a job, your wages are stagnant, your work benefits are being cut. It's VERY simple math. So was THQs math. It was obvious to me they were DOOMED several years ago. Their only hope was a MASSIVE call of duty style blockbuster. Ie insert gambling metaphor.

Dont even get me started on THQ's bloated defence budget.

THANKS SIM-BOMA

i really love these articles, thanks alex!

@pw2566ch said:

I'm curious as to if Double Fine were to purchase their own games from this auction.

Double Fine already owns the rights to their games.

Could see Activision picking up South Park, would really be able to market it to the COD crowd.

So is Alex the "News" guy now? Klepek is just writing opinion pieces on indy games?

Not that Alex writing news is a bad thing. I like his particular brand of snarkiness... in moderation.

RIP THQ, I really hoped they would pull through this somehow. I really loved some of those IPs, I hope whoever gets them doesn't shelve them, or worse, shit all over them and release money-grabs?

Great article. Keep up the good work, Alex.

Oh, Vigil. Someone HAS to save you.

Fantastic article Alex. I don't really care for your goofy stuff, but when you write in a more serious way, it just shows that there's a great writer in there, and certainly the best on Giant Bomb. Keep it up.

Why does everyone assume the next Saints Row will be good?

The DLC was bad and nothing like what made the game great, and the first two were average open-world games with terrible controls (BTW if they don't fix the still bad shooting in the next game, I'm not buying shit.).

There is no indication that they actually know what made it special and that SR3 was anything other than a fluke. I'm not getting my hopes up.

Oh and great article @Alex.

This was a great ass article

Holy fucking shit, GIANTBOMB IS STILL DOING NEWS ABOUT VIDEO GAMES!?!?!? WHERE IS ALL THE BOOB DEBATING?

Oh wait... this isn't Patricks.

Great article, Alex.

I just want to push the 'great article buton'

Nice work Alex! Great seeing regular stuff from you on here now.

I kinda feel alright about how everything ended up (obviously I would have preferred THQ to still be around but yeah) there's nothing really that screams 'uh oh' most of the acquisitions range from 'yeah that makes sense' to 'hmm..ok that might work' (rating system copywritten by me) so I'm hopeful for the future for now I guess?

The exception of course being Vigil, that's a real bummer of a situation I hope those guys get a home somewhere, they're a talented studio. Someone needs to keep them together.

I GET IT, GUNS OF NAVARRO IS LIKE GUNS OF NAVARONE.

DOES GREGORY PECK?

Great feature, I'm still looking forward to Company of Heroes 2. Hopefully that game lives up to its predecessor. Maybe we'll see a WWII Total War game now.

After reading that Game Informer article, i kinda wanted to give Jason Rubin a big hug.

Great article Alex.

You're a shoe in for best Jeff Gerstmann analogy 2013.

Sega should hand their Warhammer Fantasy license to relic, who can then use it on a stylish RTS game with a focus on "heroic commander units" and call it "Warhammer: The Craft of War, Go Forth!"

I Got bored with Darksiders 6 hours in yet loved 2. Action platforming combined with some simple ARPG mechanics were a real draw. Sad to see most didn't feel the same, was excited for a sequel with similar mechanics on a more varied scale.

@Phished0ne said:

After reading that Game Informer article, i kinda wanted to give Jason Rubin a big hug.

Yeah I just finished reading it and everything came across relatively genuine, and sincere. I'd love for my cynicism to be wrong here, 'cause some of that shit was pretty tough to read.

:(

Good luck to Vigil, hopefully a buyer can be found.

Microsoft + Jason Rubin + Vigil Games could make for a powerhouse 1st party developer for next gen.

@csl316 said:

I feel like I contributed to Vigil not being bought because I didn't finish Darksiders 2. Got halfway... but my achievements didn't show a completion.

I would love it if publishers used achievement API to make sequel decisions... but they don't. It's all about demographics and predictability models for profit.

@Cramsy said:

AND I ALREADY HAVE THE QUEST HAHAHAHA.

You monster.

And to think, if some shitty judge didn't strike down their earlier plan, we'd still be in a less cynical world.

Nice job Alex, that's some quality writing right there :)

I feel like I'm missing something though. If THQ is no more, doesn't that mean that Rubin is out of a job also? All the talk seems to have been about the fates of the various studios and IPs, but I haven't seen mention of what position this whole thing leaves Rubin in?

Oh and for what it's worth you can add me to the list of people who are crying out for someone to give Vigil a new home. I love the Darksiders games (I bought the second one twice - first on 360 then again on PC, albeit during the Steam sales) and really can't understand why they didn't sell better.

@RecSpec said:

@HaltIamReptar said:

It's obviously got to be more complicated than this, but since nobody bid on Vigil games, could I have just shown up and bid 50¢?

Minimum bid was $500,000 if I remember right.

$500,000 for Vigil? THAT'S A STEAL! Darksiders 1 and 2 BOTH sold harder than that. While Darksiders 2 wasn't ZOMFG BEST GAME EVAR, the game was competent and the team most likely learned from any mistakes made on it. To honestly believe that someone would buy HOMEFRONT for $500k and not AN ENTIRE FUCKING STUDIO WITH AN IP ATTACHED...that's just insanity to me.

Beyond that, I just want to know what happens to Red Faction and Titan Quest. Honestly, I can't believe that Red Faction didn't go with Volition!!! As for Titan Quest, it's a game that still has a ton of support from the community.

@bakoomerang: I think Rubin is one of the employees tasked with remaining on until all the bankruptcy proceedings are finished and all the legacy pieces of the company are either sold off or shuttered. Poor guy.

Great write up Alex.

After listening to 8-4 I thought this article would start about THQ and segue into Dark Souls discussion or something. I still want that to happen though.

Alex should try Dark Souls

Here is to hoping a great outcome for Virgil Games. A sad outcome indeed for THQ.

I wonder how the creditors fdeel now after sqeezing out only 10 more million after blocking the buyout for 60$ At least with them still in business there was an opporunity to make more off the still functioning company than just to block it wholesale and be completely wrong about how much more could be gotten through breaking the assests up. Boo to them I say.

Also where is the sanctimonious asshole pushing some agenda in this article? Im used to that by now.

Great article, Alex.

So wait, if nobody picked up the Darksiders name, what happens to it? Does it sit around until someone buys it, or does it revert to the developers - who themselves no longer seem to exist?

I wonder if AKI/synSophia is at all an option for 2K as a developer for the WWE games. I think the last wrestling game that AKI developed was Ultimate Muscle, but I am really interested to see if they can recreate the magic of the late '90s and early '00s if given a chance.

I hope that Deep Silver does leave Volition alone to make The Next Great Game in the Saints Row Franchise, but let's all hope they leave the boob statues out of the pre-order gifts for the special edition.

Alex pumping out fantastic articles and Patrick ploppin crap on the table. What kinda topsy turby world are we livin in? At any rate, a great, informative read. Dislike of Alex quickly fading!

I reckon Alex is the single best writer on Giant Bomb's staff right now. This kind of content almost seems out of place, considering how much better it is than most of the editorial content that gets published here. Bravo, seriously. This article was up there with the best of Rock Paper Shotgun quality

I feel the same way you do about THQ, Alex. I was rooting for them the whole time, which is something I never thought I would do for a big, faceless publisher.

@Alex : Really nice write-up. Thanks for pulling all this together, and making it an interesting read.

I hope that Deep Silver does leave Volition alone to make The Next Great Game in the Saints Row Franchise, but let's all hope they leave the boob statues out of the pre-order gifts for the special edition.

Fantastic write-up Alex. Thanks for thorough look back. I for one think a Take Two wrestling game could be phenomenal. That's a publisher who knows polish and polish has certainly been missing from wrestling games for a long time.

As far as the legacy brands go, I for one would be truly sad if Red Faction were to go the way of the dodo bird. No sequel in that franchise lived up to the promise of the first game, but I still believe that can be a series that really matters.

Damn good article. Super well written. Thanks Alex!

I just started playing the Darksider's games. its really a shame that Vigil has no home but when put that way it makes too much sense. Saints Row was also my absolute favorite game in the year it came out just because of how video gamey and stupid it was. THQ's games were never super polished but they were pretty often fun. I hope these guys that are without a job find something.

I really really hope that someone at Volition is working on a GeoMod enabled "Mars Terrorist Simulator" game right now!

Preferably with the Total Recall license. I don´t think the Red Faction IP is needed here.