Game News THQ is dead - South Park RPG publishing rights go to Ubisoft

[Infinitron]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; South Park: The Stick of Truth; THQ; Ubisoft

As you may know, the game publisher THQ recently went bankrupt after a long, painful decline. Yesterday, despite the best efforts of its management, the company was publicly dismembered, as its wholly-owned subsidiary developers, licenses and intellectual properties were individually auctioned off to the highest bidders.

Among these were THQ's rights to publish Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming RPG, South Park: The Stick of Truth, which were purchased by French publishing giant Ubisoft for the sum of $3,265,306. The website of Ubisoft Montreal announces:

UBISOFT ACQUIRES THQ MONTREAL ​

Company Also Acquires Rights To South Park: The Stick Of Truth​

Montreal – January 23, 2013 – Today, Ubisoft announced the acquisition of THQ Montreal as well as the publishing rights for the upcoming South Park: The Stick of Truth video game, being developed externally by Obsidian.​

“This deal adds experienced developers to our internal creative teams at a key moment in the cycle of the video game industry,” said Yannis Mallat, president of Ubisoft Montreal.​

THQ Montreal​

In addition to the team at THQ Montreal, Ubisoft also acquired a new, yet-to-be announced IP in development at the studio. THQ Montreal will join Ubisoft’s development teams, already the second-largest in-house development staff in the world with 26 studios in 19 countries and more than 6,250 people dedicated to video game production.​

South Park: The Stick of Truth​

South Park: The Stick of Truth is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas, and is scheduled for release in calendar 2013.​

This acquisition has no material impact on Ubisoft’s current fiscal year (2012/13).​

So, what does this mean for South Park:TSoT and Obsidian? Cancellation? Not likely, since the game's development is nearly complete. The evil always-online DRM Ubisoft has been notorious for? They've promised not to do that anymore. Retarded Assassin's Creed-themed preorder bonuses and DLC? I'd bet on it!

We do know that the creators of South Park aren't very happy with this sale and would have preferred that the rights go back to them, so who knows what legal shenanigans await? Hopefully the game won't suffer any serious delays. Obsidian themselves have kept quiet on the issue, other than this lone tweet. I guess as long as somebody is paying the bills, they'll keep on trucking.

 

[Maiandros]

damn..first image springing to mind is a news flash from the future showing a picture of MCA as he proudly steps into the Zenimax Studios offices during his first day of work for their next, next next - gen game..but then again i am a horrid person, am sure capital acquisition-driven giants such as these hardly ever apply pressure in an indirect manner to developing companies so as to end up controlling, if not owning them. God forbid anyone would claim this has happened before.
For the moment, let us remain assured that the genre's hope for a future remains bright and flowery, as The Stick of Truth will get to see the light of day, dazzling us all with its sheer depth, C&C options and cute animations.

 

[The Bishop]

$3,265,306, eh? I'd expect that to be only a fraction of development cost. It's almost like Ubisoft picked that South Park game on Steam sale.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

There's already pre-order bonuses and DLC. Check www.stickoftruth.com they've been up there for a while. So far nothing worth getting fussy about, except for the Xbox 360-exclusive stuff. Ubisoft are actually pretty reliable as publishers go, I just hope they don't delay the PC release like they did to the Assassin's Creed games. I also hope the dispute with South Park Studios won't delay the release either.

 

[Infinitron]

There's already pre-order bonuses and DLC. Check www.stickoftruth.com they've been up there for a while.

But they aren't AC-themed.

That site belongs to THQ. It hasn't been updated yet.

 

[Seerix]

More or less dlc addons, who cares? I don't think Ubisoft is as retarded as EA and will demand cut off of some core quest of the game to be sold as dlc. That's all that really matters imo.

 

[Irenaeus]

I just hope this children's game makes money for Obdisian, so they can concentrate on their usual juvenile mature RPG efforts.

 

[waywardOne]

There was a chance I would have bought this game. With Ubisoft, not a chance in hell now.

 

[Semper]

I just hope this children's game makes money for Obdisian...

if anything it will only cash in for both the publisher and the sp dudes. obsidian's just a slave the developer...

 

[Infinitron]

I just hope this children's game makes money for Obdisian, so they can concentrate on their usual juvenile mature RPG efforts.

They've already gotten the money.

 

[Irenaeus]

I thought they had participation in the sales.

 

[Infinitron]

I thought they had participation in the sales.

I doubt it. Perhaps after this Kickstarter, Obsidian will have enough leverage to demand such things in their contracts.

 

[evdk]

I thought they had participation in the sales.

I doubt it. Perhaps after this Kickstarter, Obsidian will have enough leverage to demand such things in their contracts.

The twitter quote that you posted in the other thread implied they might be getting cuts from sales of NWN2 though.

 

[Infinitron]

I thought they had participation in the sales.

I doubt it. Perhaps after this Kickstarter, Obsidian will have enough leverage to demand such things in their contracts.

The twitter quote that you posted in the other thread implied they might be getting cuts from sales of NWN2 though.

Yeah, that's the only exception we know about. Unless Roguey has learned something new.

 

[Trash]

Seriously, it might as well have gone to EA for potential to be utterly fucked.

 

[Infinitron]

I wouldn't be too worried about this. A few months is not enough time for a publisher to fuck something up, unless they really make an effort.

If it turns out shit, it was probably shit before Ubisoft. Plus, I think Ubi might realize now that meddling with Obsidian's work could turn out to be bad PR.

 

[FeelTheRads]

People discussing whether a South Park RPG can be ruined by publishers...

 

[Spectacle]

I thought they had participation in the sales.

I doubt it. Perhaps after this Kickstarter, Obsidian will have enough leverage to demand such things in their contracts.

I wouldn't be to sure about that. I believe Obsidian's contract is with the South Park producers rather than with THQ, and royalties are far more common in the TV industry than in games.

 

[Trash]

I wouldn't be too worried about this. A few months is not enough time for a publisher to fuck something up, unless they really make an effort.

If it turns out shit, it was probably shit before Ubisoft. Plus, I think Ubi might realize now that meddling with Obsidian's work could turn out to be bad PR.

Well, for instance we can be sure it's going to only run through that godawful uplay. And if there's going to be legal hassle between ubisoft and the southpark creators then the sky is the limit. Not to mention my fear for ubisoft suits introducing focus groups and deciding that it really works better as a fps.

But I'm also getting the feeling that even Obsidian haven't seemed to care that much for the project for months now. We'll see.

 

[MaskedMan]

Uplay eh, I'll buy it next time they hold a 1$ sale to cover up some security fuck up.

 

[Cosmo]

But I'm also getting the feeling that even Obsidian haven't seemed to care that much for the project for months now. We'll see.

Or maybe they've seen it coming from miles away and decided not to make any comment (to avoid the subsequent backlash), and keep working till completion because they have no choice in tne matter ?

 

[Jashiin]

I doubt ubisoft can claim any rights to the game until south park studios negotiates a contract with them.

 

[Moribund]

Another bag of obsidian manure "ruined" by someone taking a poop in it. Another awesome game ruined by THE MAN.

 

[hiver]

The game has already been rescheduled. Now its not march 2013 anymore. Just 2013.

 

[Volourn]

"We do know that the creators of South Park aren't very happy with this sale and would have preferred that the rights go back to them, so who knows what legal shenanigans await?"

I don'tm blame them. This is immoral. They signed a contract with one company and are now being legally forced to work with another. That's bogus.