THQ goes bankrupt - Sega gets Relic, Gearbox gets Homeworld, Deep Silver gets Metro and Saints Row

[WhiskeyWolf]

No dude. People make games, not company names.

Not that the companies understand that, mind you.

 

[Metro]

Koch/Derp Silver wouldn't have paid $23 million just for Volition studio's name sans employees and IP. They bought the SR franchise. An odd fit to be sure. Couldn't care less that Ubi bought South Park because I'm sure it's going to be terrible, anyway. Lol @ nobody buying Vigil/Darksiders. I would have thought that IP is worth more than Homefront.

 

[Kane]

what is darksiders anyway? is it that supposedly ~hardcore~ korean diablo clone?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

zelda clone.

 

[Metro]

I know, I've played Derpsiders 1 and bought Derpsiders 2 for like $3 during the holiday sales. It's nothing amazing but... worthless?!?! Not even the $500k Homefront got?

 

[tuluse]

There must have been minimums for the bidding. Otherwise I could have shown up and bought Vigil for $5.

 

[Metro]

That's what I'm thinking. And I'm sure they grossly overvalued the IP.

Also, a surprisingly decent point from Cheap Ass Gamer:

Buying Homefront over Darksiders doesn't have anything to do with what good IPs they are or aren't. Homefront 2 was in development for a year already. It's a small investment for Crytek to finish their work. Darksiders 3, on the other hand, was not in development and would be a huge investment money wise for a game that would be several years away, especially since Joe Mads, the creative vision behind the franchise left THQ months ago.

 

[Roguey]

I'm going to pour a 40 on the curb in honor of Saint's Row having to endure the painful extended death that is being owned by a Euro-shovelware publisher.

 

[Metro]

"These franchises hold a special place in the hearts and minds of anyone who loves exceptional video games," said Deep Silver COO Geoff Mulligan.

 

[Roguey]

Oh and

Volition (studio) and Saints Row (IP)
Winning bid: $22.3 million - Koch Media GmbH (Deep Silver)
Backup bidder: $5.4 million - Ubisoft

Are they out of their minds?

Not as depressing as

Evolve (IP) aka Metamorphosis
Winning bid: $10.894 million - Take-Two Interactive
Backup bidder: $250,000 Turtle Rock Studios, Inc.

"Oh, what's that, you wanted the rights to your game? Aw, what a cute bid. Nah, you're ours now."

 

[Metro]

I would have thought they let the parties know what the others were bidding but I guess not. Talk about overshooting the mark. They both wasted ten million+ for no reason.

 

[Excidium]

http://www.cubed3.com/news/17983/1/platinum-games-express-interest-in-darksiders.html

Whoa

 

[sser]

Corporate garage sale down 1st Ave. Look for the white collared folks carrying boxes.

 

[Dexter]

I would have thought they let the parties know what the others were bidding but I guess not. Talk about overshooting the mark. They both wasted ten million+ for no reason.

The total amount raised needed to beat the $60 Million stalking horse bid Clearlake offered in the first place: http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/19/thq-files-for-bankruptcy-assets-sold-to-investor-clearlake/ or THQ would have remained whole, transferred to Clearlake and they wouldn't have gotten anything.

 

[Metro]

Ah, that makes sense -- so they basically had to pay a premium just to ensure the sale held.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Uplay South Park?,there goes my Day One Purchase™,I hope Matt and Trey win the lawsuit and get the rights to the game

I before a lawsuit that lasts many years and the game is caught up in legal hell.

 

[J_C]

If anyone is interested the officel document about the bids:
http://www.thesangreal.net/gafpics/results.pdf

South Park bought by Ubisoft is a bummer, I hope they won't use their shitty DRM. And I'm seriously surprised that several good IPs were bought by Koch Media. And no bids for Darksiders? Not that I want a DS3, since I haven't even finished the 2nd one, but it must have worth some money.

 

[Ulminati]

Sweet. Ubisoft got South Park. That bumped it from "Probably won't try" to "Definitely won't try" for me.

 

[Infinitron]

What are the chances of Ubisoft's acquirement of South Park:TSoT working out like a distribution deal, with none of the game's data (including how it's installed, DRM, etc) changed in any way?

I think South Park Studios (ie Trey and Matt) might even demand that Ubisoft not fuck with it too much.

 

[Ulminati]

They'll probably argue that DRM doesn't change the quality of the game itself. Prepare for UPlay, always online and starforce shenanigns :3

 

[Infinitron]

They'll probably argue that DRM doesn't change the quality of the game itself. Prepare for UPlay, always online and starforce shenanigns :3

Nah: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-drm-piracy-interview/

 

[SwiftCrack]

Couldve been worse.

Prediction: EA gets WWE anyway, platinum games gets darksiders without the studio (if thats even possible)

 

[Spectacle]

There must have been minimums for the bidding. Otherwise I could have shown up and bought Vigil for $5.

Or Vigil might have a bunch of liabilities, so the buyer would have to inject a ton of cash right away to keep the studio from going under.

 

[Hellraiser]

I would have thought they let the parties know what the others were bidding but I guess not. Talk about overshooting the mark. They both wasted ten million+ for no reason.

There's also one other thing, the second bid amount is *not* what the other guys bid before they got outbid. That's what they offered initially before going into a bid-outbid fight with the other guy. The idea is that if the winner was bidding out of his ass with money he does not have, they only pay what they would pay if those guys who won never bid at all. So that jackasses couldn't troll you into buying shit overpriced by saying "LOL NO MONEY KTHX NOW PAY 7 ZILLION FOR THIS PIECE OF SHIT".

 

[Garm]

Regarding THQ/Publishers/KickStarter etc.: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-01-11-redesigning-game-design

First, don't treat every title as if it were going to be the next AAA blockbuster by giving it a two-year development time (or more) and a $50 million budget.

Since when is a 2 year development cycle long? Christ, that used to be considered short, especially for a big name IP.

Adjust the scope of the design so it's doable in 12 months with a reasonable team size.

So...make every game a sports game now? Look at the writing ability of most "writers" in the game industry--now imagine them with even less time to "polish" the game story and dialogue.

Oh, and fuck that top commentor guy--worthless POS mobile developer whining about 100 hour playtime expectations with plenty of content.