THQ: IPs Auctioned. Current Developments: Homeworld has gone to Gearbox

[Patticus]

Nordic Games (they made Painkiller, right?) has picked up a ton of IPs, including Darksiders and Red Faction, for a whopping $4.9mn:
 
Titan Quest
Darksiders
Red Faction
MX vs. ATV
Frontlines
Juiced
Stuntman
Destroy All Humans
Deadly Creatures
The Outfit
Summoner
Full Spectrum Warrior
Supreme Commander
 
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/23/and-everything-else-from-thq-went-to-nordic-games/

 

Darksiders didn't go to Crytek? The fuck?

[Blue Blood]

What?! Why? I bet Crytek and all the former Vigil employees there are pissed.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Detective Shadzter]

Glad to see Darksiders picked up. 

[Carbo]

Glad to see Darksiders picked up.

By the wrong company to handle it. For a pathetic price.

A glance at how much the IPs were bought for shows that literally no one were interested in any of them. Darksiders was bought for $4.9 million, and it was the one with top billings. All of them get worse. Gearbox bought Homeworld for $1.5 million, and the licensed lot was only for $0.3 million.

Absolutely pathetic. These IPs are dying with no dignity.

[Tani Coyote]

By the wrong company to handle it. For a pathetic price.

Absolutely pathetic. These IPs are dying with no dignity.

 

Really I can't help but wonder if this is connected to why THQ fell apart in the first place. Sounds like they had seriously deficient marketing... so it makes sense the IPs are undervalued as well.

 

Ultimately price is a reflection for how much buyers think it is worth more than anything else. That THQ went bankrupt speaks for horrible product management to begin with, so it's understandable the buying companies are undervaluing it all as well. There's always that risk they won't be able to make them sell well, and the price reflects that.

[Tornado]

To be fair, the licenced lot wasn't worth dick anyway. I can't imagine that too many companies are absolutely chomping at the bit to publish more Nancy drew games, and the only thing of any value (the Worms games) are kinda iffy when Team 17 can (and has) self-published Worms games in the past.

[Tani Coyote]

To be fair, the licenced lot wasn't worth dick anyway. I can't imagine that too many companies are absolutely chomping at the bit to publish more Nancy drew games, and the only thing of any value (the Worms games) are kinda iffy when Team 17 can (and has) self-published Worms games in the past.

 

Really it sounds to me like THQ picked up a lot of low-profit margin games, probably for more than what they were worth. Would explain a lot about why it ended up caving in on itself.

 

Though good point. Competition drives prices up on the demand side of things, and if there's not much buying pressure, well, it's going to stay low. So while some titles sound like they were genuinely undervalued, others just didn't really have many interested in them.

[Teoskaven]

Guys, it could have been worse.

Darksiders could have gone to Valve with no chance for a third title.

 

Ok, that wasn't funny. Kill me.

[Doctor MK]

For everyone wondering who Nordic Games are...

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

So they are a small publishing group who have a couple of small developers.... this doesnt bode that well

[Badnik Mechanic]

Nordic Games buys....

Red Faction

Stuntman

Destroy All Humans

Supreme Commander

 

And many more...

 

 

 

And Gearbox buys Homeworld!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLcZ5Rk3Lg

 

Well those are all the games I used to play which I'll never see again.

 

And how much do you wanna bet that the fist thing Gearbox will do to Homeworld is put a claptrap robot somewhere in the game?

 

 

================

 

 

So you know how Nordic Games bought all those IP's...? You think they got a plan? They must have a plan! Theres a master plan right!? RIGHT!?

 

Nordic Games! Tell us the plan!

 

 

 

Naturally we dont have any sure plans for the future of the series as we dont even have a development team.

So for now we will be analysing the situation and try to figure out whats the best option

 

Heh heh heh... THERE IS NO PLAN! THAT IS THE PLAN!

 

Source: http://forum.nordicgames.at/showthread.php?178155-Darksiders

[Detective Shadzter]

Vigil Games developers pass on Darksiders advice to Nordic Games
http://www.shopto.net/news/42532/Vigil-Games-developers-pass-on-Darksiders-advise-to-Nordic-Games/?utm_source=ShopToNews&utm_medium=facebook

[Patticus]

What the hell is Nordic going to do with all these IPs? They're just going to be left to rot, aren't they?

[Badnik Mechanic]

What the hell is Nordic going to do with all these IPs? They're just going to be left to rot, aren't they?

 

I repeat

 

Naturally we dont have any sure plans for the future of the series as we dont even have a development team.

So for now we will be analysing the situation and try to figure out whats the best option

 

They have no plan at all!

 

lol it's like me when I first started collecting sonic merch... buy buy buy, think about it all later =p

[Blue Blood]

What the hell is Nordic going to do with all these IPs? They're just going to be left to rot, aren't they?

 

As it is now, we'll be lucky if they're left to rot. But Nordic could get together some awful plans and rubbish dev teams, pumping out games to kill those IPs. 

[Milo]

What was the point of buying those IPs if they are planning to do jack shit with them?

[Patticus]

Couldn't Crytek try to buy the IP from Nordic?

They have no plan at all!

 

lol it's like me when I first started collecting sonic merch... buy buy buy, think about it all later =p

Nordic evidently has high aspirations as a publisher; it might be small now, but with all of these IPs in its possession, it could in theory farm them out to half decent developers and score at least a few hits out of all the misses it might get. Thinking about it... couldn't they hand Crytek a Darksiders lease or something, where they would develop a new game in the series, and Nordic would publish it?

[Detective Shadzter]

BUMP!

 

THQ sure left a lot of cool stuff in its former HQ
As shown by man whose work relocated there.

By Jeffrey Matulef Published Wednesday, 28 May 2014

When Reddit user Soulessgingr's work relocated to a new building in Agoura Hills, California, he was delighted to see that it was actually the proverbial burial ground of former video game publisher THQ. Better yet, it still had a lot of cool memorabilia from the publisher's heyday.

Soulessgingr said he'd heard that all this paraphernalia was intentionally left behind as assets meant to make up for owed rent. "The building manager purchased all the stuff that was left and THQ also left some stuff (hardware mostly) because they owed a lot of money for back rent," the Reddit user said. He later added that another colleague verified that the building owner paid THQ for the sweet swag.

Aside from the cool, vaguely melancholy ambiance of working in a place haunted by totems of a once great video game publisher, Soulessgingr was given three of the left behind posters for Darksiders 2. "I was given Darksiders 2 posters a while ago because the CIO knew I loved that game when he did the initial tour," he explained. The lucky buck.

So, without further ado, here's nine pictures detailing what the former THQ building looks like today.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-05-28-thq-sure-left-a-lot-of-cool-stuff-in-its-former-hq

 

Pics:

 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Damn! That's some pretty awesome stuff.

 

Wait... if theres actual hardware, it might have protos on it from cancelled projects.

[Willsy]

Look at all of those shovelware Spongebob games! God I'd kill to own all of those!

No but seriously, I lost count of how many they made.

[goku262002]

.jpg.jpg? new format their Shadz? XD

How sad, but yeah I too am curious if theres any prototypes of any games and whats gonna happen to all of the gear they left behind.

Don't tell me that they are just gonna trash all of it? hell at least auction it or something.

[Patticus]

I really hope that that kickass, almost life-size Space Marine statue winds up in a Games Workshop somewhere. There's nothing better to get young Warhammer 40k lovers inspired walking into a branch of GW than a killer display, be it an amazing diorama, a well made battle board, or an epic statue. It's a horrible shame that THQ's demise left so many relics lying around like they're nothing... they all deserve to go to good homes, perhaps to former employees.

[Gabz Girl]

It's really sad how a lot of stuff is still left behind at the abandoned THQ offices. The photos themselves show just how sad and lonely the place really is!

 

Surely the stuff won't stay there forever? Somebody is bound to get in there and take the Space Marine statue, or all the stuff in that cabinet.

[goku262002]

THQ Lives Again (Kotaku)

So uh...if there just gonna be pretending to be THQ, why not actually be just THQ? its a more memorable name then Nordic Games.