THQ files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
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.
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
Remember when Marvel filed chapter 11 in the 90's. They are rocking it today.
I hope they turn it around... that would be awesome. Plus there's a lot of good work being made by their studios.
We all know how the rest went...
THQ gambled that uDraw for 360 & PS3 would be a big hit (d1ver beat me to it)
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.
But what if you are Monolith? I can't wait for the new Fear/Condemned peripheral!
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.
Total War and Starcraft seem to disagree.
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.
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.
Moral of the story: studios are recyclable, gossip is priceless
(not being particularly mean 2 thq tho)
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
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.
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.
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.
A small hope would be with COH2, and only if... it sells more than COD or AC3.
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!
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.
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.
But maybe they can turn things around, that would be the best, only time will tell.
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.
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.
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
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?
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!
fuck that shit.
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.