Home General Discussion

THQ files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

1
polycounter lvl 9
Offline / Send Message
glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2012/12/19/thqi-halted-for-news/?mod=yahoobarrons

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121219006384/en/THQ-Secures-Asset-Purchase-Agreement-Affiliates-Clearlake

“We have incredible, creative talent here at THQ. We look forward to partnering with experienced investors for a new start as we will continue to use our intellectual property assets to develop high-quality core games, create new franchise titles, and drive demand through both traditional and digital channels.”

"The sale and filing are necessary next steps to complete THQ's transformation and position the company for the future, as we remain confident in our existing pipeline of games, the strength of our studios and THQ's deep bench of talent," CEO Brian Farrell said in the press release.

"We are grateful to our outstanding team of employees, partners and suppliers who have worked with us through this transition. We are pleased to have attracted a strong financial partner for our business, and we hope to complete the sale swiftly to make the process as seamless as possible."


Didn't know where to post this since the other thread got closed....

So i guess that this gives them time to restructure and continue operating without the debt being on their backs on everything. They did mention a lot of partnerships and people interested in injecting money in there. So i do hope everything has a smooth transition.

Replies

  • Rapante
    Offline / Send Message
    Rapante polygon
    oh shit! :( fingers crossed that investors will jump in to help, and if not, that everybody affected will find a new place asap!
  • slipsius
    I really hope everyone around these parts was smart enough to back their shit up and start looking for jobs a month ago when their stocks fell
  • d1ver
    Offline / Send Message
    d1ver polycounter lvl 14
    Some great people over at THQ. Man I hope it works out for them...
  • Ark
    Offline / Send Message
    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    Damn. Really wanted Metro Last Light to at least see the light of day.
  • skylebones
    Offline / Send Message
    skylebones polycounter lvl 10
    They are filing bankruptcy, not closing there doors. Metro Last Light and their other games are still planning on coming out. So there is still hope for them, especially if the asset purchase agreement works out.

    Remember when Marvel filed chapter 11 in the 90's. They are rocking it today.
  • glottis8
    Offline / Send Message
    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    Yea.. its just restructuring and them being maybe acquired by some other people? So maybe we'll see Acti-Blizzard-THQ.

    I hope they turn it around... that would be awesome. Plus there's a lot of good work being made by their studios.
  • nick2730
    COH2 comes out next year, if the game is stellar as i hope and expect it to be can definitely help
  • Ace-Angel
    Offline / Send Message
    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    It's THQ's fault, last year I sent them a picture of my wiener and said "This 'package' will help you get a raise and come out from a deficit *wink wink*, hire me now!"

    We all know how the rest went...
  • adam
    Offline / Send Message
    adam polycounter lvl 19
    Renamed the thread.
  • ErichWK
    Offline / Send Message
    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    Vigil and Volition are suuuuper talented studios.. I know a lot of japanese publishers are trying to get a better foothold in the Western game market..maybe now is their chance to get a great established studio and a better foothold, kind of like what Capcom did with Blue Castle Games.
  • slipgatecentral
    Offline / Send Message
    slipgatecentral polycounter lvl 13
    So, what kind of events triggered this? THQ published really good stuff in the past.
  • d1ver
    Offline / Send Message
    d1ver polycounter lvl 14
    Vadim, they heavily invested into uDraw that flopped and took a shit-ton of money with it.
  • Justin Meisse
    Offline / Send Message
    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    So, what kind of events triggered this? THQ published really good stuff in the past.

    THQ gambled that uDraw for 360 & PS3 would be a big hit (d1ver beat me to it)
  • Ace-Angel
    Offline / Send Message
    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    d1ver wrote: »
    Vadim, they heavily invested into uDraw that flopped and took a shit-ton of money with it.
    Moral of the story, if you're a game developer studio that isn't a monolith, don't put your nose in the hardware market.
  • JacqueChoi
    Offline / Send Message
    JacqueChoi polycounter
    I can see them selling off their studios on a case by case basis.

    I can see EA wanting to acquire both Relic, and Vigil, Activision wanting the Montreal studio (for a Montreal presence), and Volition to strengthen their portfolios.
  • Ark
    Offline / Send Message
    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    Great we can look forward to awesome games like Call of the Heros and Medal of Red Faction.
  • slipgatecentral
    Offline / Send Message
    slipgatecentral polycounter lvl 13
    one fail vaporware is enough to sink a huge company like THQ? I'm confused.
  • Computron
    Offline / Send Message
    Computron polycounter lvl 7
    ^Me too. How could anyone allow that to happen?
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    Moral of the story, if you're a game developer studio that isn't a monolith, don't put your nose in the hardware market.

    But what if you are Monolith? I can't wait for the new Fear/Condemned peripheral! NcVM7.gif
  • d1ver
    Offline / Send Message
    d1ver polycounter lvl 14
    Well insider stories are the whole upper management is plain incompetent and the CEO in particular. They've done a bunch of firing lately and got Jason Rubin on board, which was a smart move 'cause that guys is awesome. But they were still in much debt with no foreseeable releases to bring in the cash and amend previous bad decisions. And there were aplenty.

    Homefront was expensive to make with a Huge marketing budget but it didn't sell all the well. I imagine Darksiders, despite having good enough sales, hardly brings in more then average income. Space Marine didn't seem to sell all the well either and PC exclusive RTS games are hardly where the money is.

    Saints Row and WWE were probably the main milking cows for THQ, but they've got a lot of facilities around the world and the revenue was probably not enough to keep them all running and pay off debt at the same time.
  • Ark
    Offline / Send Message
    Ark polycounter lvl 11
    d1ver wrote: »
    Homefront was expensive to make with a Huge marketing budget but it didn't sell all the well. I imagine Darksiders, despite having good enough sales, hardly brings in more then average income. Space Marine didn't seem to sell all the well either and PC exclusive RTS games are hardly where the money is.

    Total War and Starcraft seem to disagree.
  • d1ver
    Offline / Send Message
    d1ver polycounter lvl 14
    Ark, I think Starcraft is more profitable because it strongly emphasises the competetive multiplayer component, so there are opportunities for keeping up the interest and monetezation. And still it doesn't earn nowhere near WoW and even Diablo III. In the 24 hours blizzard shipped a million units of Starcraft II and 3.5 millions of Diablo III. And there also are bigger ingame monetization opportunities for DIablo III.

    Total War could sell well enough to support a single studio but for a huge publisher owning a lot of studios, you've got to pack some more punch than that. The first game I ever worked on was an RTS published by Square Enix. We sold around a million units but the revenues were plain minuscule compared to what we've made with World of Tanks. And I'm pretty sure bigger revenues is what THQ is shooting for.
  • Ace-Angel
    Offline / Send Message
    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    one fail vaporware is enough to sink a huge company like THQ? I'm confused.
    Computron wrote: »
    ^Me too. How could anyone allow that to happen?

    THQ isn't that big if you look at it, compared to Nintendo or Activision, at most it could be rated as a A grade publisher, and not a A+ or anything higher since they simply don't have the billionaire background.

    Also, don't forget that most companies sell hardware at a loss, and rely on the digital/software market to make up for it.

    They also have long term plans for support for such things, and don't expect quick financial gain, or for it to be a sleeper hit.

    THQ's mistakes are mainly in advertising, I didn't know about uDraw until I saw people talking about it being recalled.

    They started it off as a Wii only product, which was insane since people already did have access to the Wii-mote. The PS3 also had it's lollipop drums during that time.

    PS3 and Xbox version of the uDraw were made only for 4 month before the recall, which is no way to go about it.

    Also, as far as I know, THQ didn't try and get other people in the development progress, they could have done what Epic did with UDK, but instead decided to only close it rigidly, internally.

    Simply put, whoever was in charge of the idea behind the uDraw, financially, productions wise, lineup, etc, did every single mistake that someone with secondary-school quality of business studies would never do. They made every single mistake that could be taken to the detriment of THQ.

    There was a reason as to why THQ freaked out and stopped overnight the uDraw, if they didn't, I can honestly say, they would be in a much worse position now, especially with the WiiU out in the market now.
    But what if you are Monolith? I can't wait for the new Fear/Condemned peripheral! NcVM7.gif
    oh-you-93067263235.jpeg
  • MagicSugar
    Offline / Send Message
    MagicSugar polycounter lvl 10
    Ace-Angel wrote: »
    Moral of the story,
    Moral of the story...take rumors seriously: [from January of this year] http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93390&highlight=thq+rumor
  • ikken
    MagicSugar wrote: »
    Moral of the story...take rumors seriously: [from January of this year] http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93390&highlight=thq+rumor

    Moral of the story: studios are recyclable, gossip is priceless

    (not being particularly mean 2 thq tho)
  • Dan!
  • r_fletch_r
    Offline / Send Message
    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    Dan! wrote: »

    awesome! sounds like most folks are safe in the short term. Makes you wonder what demands the investor will be making with regards to restructuring
  • GarageBay9
    Offline / Send Message
    GarageBay9 polycounter lvl 13
    They had BETTER finish Metro: Last Light or MAY A NOSALIS EAT THEIR FACE. :poly118:
  • MagicSugar
    Offline / Send Message
    MagicSugar polycounter lvl 10
    r_fletch_r wrote: »
    awesome! sounds like most folks are safe in the short term.

    Nothing wrong thinking positively but...38 Studios...remember?

    You're only safe as long as your monthly salary is in your bank account as expected.

    Upper management whitewashing bad news...man, that's a huge red flag.
  • praetus
    Offline / Send Message
    praetus interpolator
    I would hate to see any studio closures or layoffs come out of this but as they say "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst." I don't think it would be a bad idea to back up or screenshot any work that your job allows you to. If they do, better to do it while you have access because if the slips come out you won't have the option.

    To be positive though, I truly hope that THQ can turn this around with their new investor. THQ puts out some really cool IPs that I feel would suffer under other publishers. Here's hoping you guys can keep on making great games.
  • TrevorJ
    Offline / Send Message
    TrevorJ polycounter lvl 9
    It wasn't the Udraw alone that sank THQ, it was many factors, many of which were just fairly good games that didn't do as well as they maybe should/could have. THQ for the longest time was heavily reliant on licensed products(Dora, wrestling, etc.) They saw that this mid range shovel-ware market was starting to dry up so they started to try to create their own IP's.

    As people may know starting an IP from scatch can cost a lot of money. So if they don't really pay off, your kinda facked. They put forth some awesome efforts, Company of Heroes, Darksiders, and Saints Row. But i guess it wasn't enough, and at this point they didn't have any strong licensed titles to fall back on. It all speculation though.

    Some people have things against Michael Pachter, but he summarizes what has been happening with THQ very well in this podcast.(about halfway through)

    http://deadworkerspartynetwork.com/uploads/coreelements/ce_ep022.mp3

    I hope this whole situation doesn't hurt the devs of any of these projects too much, i think they already have a buyer, so it sounds like all the current projects will still get shipped. Might be some drama with the changing of management hands and such though.
  • cptSwing
    Offline / Send Message
    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Relic I <3 you. Please don't die.
  • Blaizer
    Offline / Send Message
    Blaizer interpolator
    THQ has its days counted. Let's be realistic, the new metro won't save the company because almost nobody buy one player games nowadays.

    A small hope would be with COH2, and only if... it sells more than COD or AC3.
  • fearian
    Offline / Send Message
    fearian greentooth
    Blaizer wrote: »
    almost nobody buy one player games nowadays.

    I wouldn't say that. I think that the number of AAA, "how much?!?!" budgeted games is shrinking, but there's still room for smaller teams and less blockbuster sized titles... But I think the point where THQ could have maneuvered into such a position passed years ago before the trend became apparent.
  • Rurouni Strife
    Offline / Send Message
    Rurouni Strife polycounter lvl 10
    I was under the impression that Homefront sold 'ok' (like in the 3 million range) but the marketing and development budget was so high that it wasn't going to ever recoup the costs unless it was a Call of Duty level success.

    I think that if 3 of the 4 upcoming THQ titles sell a couple million each that the investor who is throwing cash at the studios to finish their games will recoup their investment and THQ will emerge lean and mean. I know I'm picking up South Park and Metro next year!
  • the_Adri
    I'm taking a wild guess here and saying I probably should not apply for an internship when I graduate next year.....
  • Jason Young
    Offline / Send Message
    Jason Young polycounter lvl 14
    I might be reading too much into it, but the subtext I'm getting out of these articles and interviews is THQ ran out of money(to the point where they can't finish what they've started) and the bankruptcy and sale is essentially just to get enough cash to finish out the games they're currently working on. It's likely their new overlords are going to see their current slate through 'til next year and then sell off assets/IPs. 60 million isn't all that much considering their operating costs.

    It would be different if another media company stepped in wanting to grow a games business, but that is not the case right now if this sale goes through. My pessimism tells me this will be a slow dismantling and selling off of IP. I don't think we'll see other publishers buying the remaining studios wholesale, either. Makes more sense to just buy the IP.
  • Progg
    Offline / Send Message
    Progg polycounter lvl 11
    My pessimism tells me this will be a slow dismantling and selling off of IP.

    Your pessimism is very reassuring
  • Justin Meisse
    Offline / Send Message
    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    Progg wrote: »
    Your pessimism is very reassuring

    It's informed by experience, I'm sure - I hate to say it but things seem grim. My best advice is hope for the best but prepare for the worst - either have some interviews lined up or savings that you can live off of if the worst case scenario happens.
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    what justin said, as well as: back up your work ready for portfolio pimping.
  • Autocon
    Offline / Send Message
    Autocon polycounter lvl 15
    Really hope that this wont lead to the break up of the studios under THQ. That would be the worst. Would be better to sell the studios as a whole off to another company to like EA or Activision.

    But maybe they can turn things around, that would be the best, only time will tell.
  • praetus
    Offline / Send Message
    praetus interpolator
    Progg wrote: »
    Your pessimism is very reassuring

    People aren't being negative because they want to be assholes. There is nothing more that we would like than for THQ to live on and continue publishing the great games you guys are making. However, just in this past year we've seen this scenario play out and not for the better with 38 Studios.

    Like I said before, hope for the best but while you still have the opportunity BACK.UP.YOUR.WORK. We all saw when 38 Studios said they were fine and then suddenly, locked doors.

    This new investor is great news, but don't think you're suddenly out of any kind of hot seat.
  • Bigjohn
    Offline / Send Message
    Bigjohn polycounter lvl 11
    Should get a kickstarter going to buy Vigil and make them go indie.
  • Snader
    Offline / Send Message
    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    They need money to get out of bankruptcy, right?
    How about we all donate €25?

    http://store.steampowered.com/sub/18778/

    For the amount of games you get, it's an insane deal. Heck, even just Darksiders 2 costs as much via a regular store.
  • Progg
    Offline / Send Message
    Progg polycounter lvl 11
    praetus wrote: »
    People aren't being negative because they want to be assholes. There is nothing more that we would like than for THQ to live on and continue publishing the great games you guys are making. However, just in this past year we've seen this scenario play out and not for the better with 38 Studios.

    Like I said before, hope for the best but while you still have the opportunity BACK.UP.YOUR.WORK. We all saw when 38 Studios said they were fine and then suddenly, locked doors.

    This new investor is great news, but don't think you're suddenly out of any kind of hot seat.

    It was just a poke. Wasn't meant anything more. We're all very aware of the situation and just trying to have a good time and stay optimistic
  • praetus
    Offline / Send Message
    praetus interpolator
    http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/7/3846854/thq-franchises-may-be-sold-title-by-title

    It looks like the company that was backing THQ is going to be selling the franchises to buyers title by title. What is the likelihood that a buyer would pull the studios under their wing when this happens as opposed to just cleaning house?
  • biofrost
    Offline / Send Message
    biofrost polycounter lvl 12
    I would think it's a lot more work to clean house and just give the ip to a studio that has no experience with it. Why spend time hoping another studio will get the game right when they can just keep the current devs?
  • ChaosEidolon
    Offline / Send Message
    ChaosEidolon polycounter lvl 17
    So, pardon my ignorance here, but if THQ's assets are sold off piecemeal, is there any conceivable way that people will retain their jobs? Any talk of purchasing studios instead of just IP and licencing?
    I'm guessing the reality is more likely that everything will be shuttered and liquidated, but I'm hoping that that's not the case, both for your guy's sake and for us recently layed off peeps. It's gettin crowded in the hot-tub! lol!
  • BoBo_the_seal
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    title by title meaning Darksiders 1 and 2 could end up being owned by two different parties with the IP itself being in limbo as a result? and what about the actual studios involved? are they being pushed through the shitter so that publishers like EA can just profit on the individual games?

    fuck that shit.
  • Lennyagony
    Offline / Send Message
    Lennyagony polycounter lvl 14
    praetus wrote: »
    http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/7/3846854/thq-franchises-may-be-sold-title-by-title

    It looks like the company that was backing THQ is going to be selling the franchises to buyers title by title. What is the likelihood that a buyer would pull the studios under their wing when this happens as opposed to just cleaning house?

    Mentioned in update 2 at the bottom of the above link, although title by title may be an option, entire studios look like they are also on the table and may be sold whole.

    Update 2: Bids are due at 9 a.m. on Jan. 22 and the auction will be held at 3 p.m. A sale hearing will take place the following day at 9 a.m. DDI noted that bids will only be open for "certain assets (titles, studios, e.t.c.)" in the auction.

    Really hope everyone still working their asses off through this end up with at least a reasonable resolution.
1
Sign In or Register to comment.