[PSU EDITORIAL] The demise of THQ: where each franchise is going, and what it means

[KyleOnTheRun]

The day has come. THQ is effectively no more, and the majority of the once-profitable publisher's franchises, studios, and rights have been sold at auction to some big names. Ubisoft. Deep Silver. Crytek.

I want to open this thread up for discussion, based in part on my feature (linked below), but also directed at the fallout and implications of the sale as a whole. What are you excited for? What bums you out? Here's the place to talk about it.

And, I would love, love, LOVE anybody who might read my feature and offer feedback. What we do at PSU is for you, our amazing community, and there's no better place anywhere on the Internet.

http://www.psu.com/a018086/The-demis...-what-it-means

Today's auction of various THQ intellectual property rights has ended, and news is pouring in of franchises and future games that will be henceforth published by other industry giants. Until just recently, the identities of the IPs and studios for sale was unknown (though we speculated that Saints Row, Darksiders, and MX vs. ATV would change hands). Now, we have a clear picture of where our favorite franchises will be going, and how much each company paid to acquire them.

The next few years will be very interesting indeed, as a whole host of sequels and titles-in-progress will now be published under different corporate umbrellas. Let's take a look at each successful bid, and examine what each sale means for the industry moving forward.

[Sir_Scud]

I'm most interested in what will happen with the WWE franchise, that supposedly ended up with Take-Two, but I think Crytek obtaining Homefront will be really interesting. Homefront was a really weak, generic FPS that will probably see the Crytek touch. Curious to see what they will really do with it.

I'm just glad South Park will see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully there will be no issue with release.

[RedOrb_Collector]

All I care about from them is Darksiders.

It would be awesome if Sony acquired that, but I know its not going to be the case.

[Kauldron]

My favorites are Darksiders and Saints Row. I'm not sure if Deep Silver can keep the quality of Darksiders. Dead Island had many problems and still does.

[Syphon_Filter]

Its really sad. THQ has created some great games and now these bastards are taking them so easily. Yeah, I would agree if Sony buy Darksides but Sony won't do that.

[AmigaEngine]

Atsushi Inaba from Platinum games posted this on tweeter

"Oh man in THQ's big sale it looks like nobody's bought Darksiders ... I'd love to buy that (if it was cheap)."

Hope they can make it happen along with buying Vigil studios

[AmigaEngine]

Any word on the MX V's ATV games ? I enjoyed them alot back in the day

[AmigaEngine]

I'm most interested in what will happen with the WWE franchise, that supposedly ended up with Take-Two, but I think Crytek obtaining Homefront will be really interesting. Homefront was a really weak, generic FPS that will probably see the Crytek touch. Curious to see what they will really do with it.

I'm just glad South Park will see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully there will be no issue with release.

Crytek has been working on the Homefront sequel for nearly a year, they got it at a great price and had done most of the work so I have huge expectations for this and the Metro series.

[adamdolge]

I think the Ubisoft move is really solid. Also, hope someone grabs Darksiders, just don't think it will be Sony.

[Cybertox]

All of those acquirable franchises have great potentials.

[keefy]

They had stupid retail exclusives for alot of their games for PC meaning that a game requiring Steam could not be bought on steam until a certain amount of time passed.
1 such game I do know this happened to was Homefront.
Only affected the UK.

[KyleOnTheRun]

My favorites are Darksiders and Saints Row. I'm not sure if Deep Silver can keep the quality of Darksiders. Dead Island had many problems and still does.

Unfortunately, the status of Darksiders is still totally unknown - Vigil Games has dissolved, but THQ's corporate name presumably still exists and as such they still own the Darksiders name. It just seems that nobody felt like purchasing it.

Like AmigaEngine said, hopefully we'll hear good things before too long from PlatinumGames or another potential buyer.

[ps3freak18]

I'm hoping something will happen with darksiders. I love the franchise. I like the Ubisoft move as well. I think they will do right by the thq franchises they acquired.

[Sir_Scud]

Crytek has been working on the Homefront sequel for nearly a year, they got it at a great price and had done most of the work so I have huge expectations for this and the Metro series.

Oh, I had no idea. That's awesome then!

[Vulgotha]

Don't care. Relic just keep making Dawn of War games.