Video game developer and publishing house, THQ or "Toy Head-Quarters" was officially sold on Wednesday. Late last year, attempts were made to keep the business afloat after the company defaulted on a loan from Wells Fargo bank. Financial woes caused THQ to delay the release of some game releases until March 2013. In December, the company had no other recourse but to file for bankruptcy and divide its assets.
An auction was held on Tuesday, resulting in portions of the company's assets and game franchises being acquired by several other software developers. Clearlake Capital Group initially offered to purchase THQ as a whole, for the price of $60 million dollars. Creditors made a good judgment call, noting that it would be much more profitable to sell the franchises individually.
A total of $72 million was obtained from the purchase according the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the state of Delaware. Crytek is developing the sequel to Homefront, for which it now owns the rights to. Koch Media acquired the rights to Saints Row, Metro and Violition Inc. and Sega now owns Relic Entertainment and the rights to the Company of Heroes franchise. The WWE series is expected to be taken over by Take-Two Interactive along with Evolve.
Lastly, Ubisoft, the creator of Assassins Creed and ZombiU has acquired THQ Montreal and the publishing rights to South Park: The Stick Of Truth. Included in the Chapter 11 filings were Darksiders developer Vigil Games and THQ's publishing unit. A buyer has not been announced yet for these $29 million of remaining assets.
In a letter addressed to employees posted on Kotaku, THQ CEO Brian Farrell and President Jason Rubin said, "We expect that most employees of the entities included in the sale will be offered employment by the new owners. However, we cannot say what these owners may intend, and there will likely be some positions that will not be needed under the new ownership." Farrell and Rubin also added a personal note stating, "The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative, creative, artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of what we have accomplished despite today's outcome."
