Here we are, not one month into 2013, and already we have big news. If you all remember a few months ago I wrote a piece about the eventual downfall of THQ. It turns out that the downfall has finally taken place. After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, all of its assets have been put up for auction.
I remember seeing something like this happen back when 3DO’s assets were put up for sale. Back then, Microsoft bought the rights to 3DO’s excellent High Heat Baseball franchise. The thought of playing more High Heat games exclusively on Xbox would have been a dream for a baseball sim junkie like myself. But that didn’t happen.
Fortunately the THQ auction had a different story, but I will get to that in a few. I’m sure everyone has seen the Industry Happenings we posted earlier, so to provide a Cliff’s Notes version of it. Here is who got what: Deep Silver (publisher of the Dead Island series) obtains developer Volition and the licenses to both the Saints Row and Metro series.
Sega obtains Relic Games (responsible for the Warhammer 40K and Company of Heroes series).
Ubisoft obtains South Park: The Stick of Truth and THQ Montreal.
Crytek purchases the rights to the Homefront franchise. This makes sense as they were currently developing Homefront 2.
Take Two Interactive purchased the rights to the game Evolve.
I will admit I have a concern with Ubisoft obtaining the rights to the South Park game. If you remember at E3, it was Microsoft that hyped it up. However, we all know Ubisoft’s love for Sony and the PS3, as they only give exclusive content to PS3 owners. I only hope they don’t continue this tradition with South Park.
But getting back to the THQ assets auction, there was one license that was missing. One that I wrote about earlier: World Wrestling Entertainment. Remember that THQ owed WWE nearly $45 million before the bankruptcy, and many people were wondering who would end up buying them? My biggest fear was that it would be Electronic Arts, since they obtained the rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship back at E3.
But if a report on Joystiq is any indication, the purchasing rights to future WWE games will be done by Take 2 Interactive. That could not make me any happier to hear.
Keep in mind that I have been very impressed with Take 2/2K Games over the past year. They have released stellar games such as Borderlands 2 and XCOM, and the innovations they have done with the NBA 2K series have more than impressed me.
I am curious to see what they would do with future WWE games. Can this mean that when WWE 2K14 comes out, they would add a WWE Today feature, allowing me to simulate actual Raw and Smackdown lineups as they happen for real? Or even run a full Pay-Per-View card with the correct lineup. Might we even go as far as giving the complete 30 man order for the Royal Rumble? If you’re a WWE fan, this might be a dream come true!
Still, these sales are waiting for court approval, and the WWE negotiations occurred after the auction. We’ll have to see how it turns out, but so far, I’m liking the aftermath.
Still, RIP Toy Headquarters, aka THQ 1989-2013.
Currently Playing: XCOM: Enemy Unknown, WWE 13
Waiting For: Tomb Raider