Thursday, January 24, 2013

THQ Details Buyers, Numbers After Fire Sale

Troubled Agoura Hills-based videogame maker THQ has officially been broken up into pieces and sold, according to the firm Wednesday evening, after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court has granted a motion to approve a sale of the majority of THQ's assets to multiple buyers. THQ detailed the sale Wednesday night, saying the company's estate will receive approximately $72M in total through the sales of its owned studios and games in development.

Relic Studios goes to Sega Corporation for $26.6M; Volition and Metro: Last Light went to Koch Media GmbH for $22.3M and $5.9M; Homefront 2 went to Crytek GmbH for $0.5M; Evolve went to Take-Two Interactive Software for $10.9M; THQ Montreal and Skuth Park: The Stick of Truth went to Ubisoft for $2.5M and $3.3M. Vigil Games and a number of other properties remain with THQ in Chapter 11.

The sale splits what had once been a flagship videogame publisher in Southern California, and also puts a large number of THQ staffers on the market; THQ said it expects new owners to extend employment offers to the employees working on those properties, but in a letter to employees Wednesday, the company's CEO, Brian Farrell, said it expected those not covered in the acquisitions would be let go. THQ said it will continue to employ "a small number" of headquarters staff to assist in the transition.

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