Poor poor THQ. That little uDraw fiasco and banking on Darksiders II to save them just wasn’t going to cut it. THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, which means that while they will still operate and have current games still being developed, their primary focus right now is to pay off the debt they’ve incurred. In their bankruptcy filings, it’s revealed that THQ owes $45 million to World Wrestling Entertainment. THQ has partnered with WWE for a very long time, making wrestling games as far back as the original Smackdown! on the PS1 (and probably earlier). The WWE games got its loyal fans, but it looks like they weren’t enough as now THQ owes WWE. Chairman Vince McMahon is pretty peeved at this and is watching the bankruptcy proceedings closely. I think he should also consider starting up a videogame publishing branch and just self publish the games instead of having someone else do it.
In other THQ news, It looks like Ubisoft might want to buy out the company. Going back to how the bankruptcy works for the company, they’ve offloaded their assets to an investment firm and are trying to find a buyer. One of those potential buyers is Ubisoft, and they want to get THQ’s properties for cheap. According to MCV, “Ubisoft is after a bargain buy, and is prepared to hold-out until THQ is forced to sell off specific assets…” This means that if they’re successful, they will acquire Red Faction, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Homefront, Darksiders, and any remaining deals left with the aforementioned WWE. Ubisoft’s been growing quite a lot as of late, and this acquisition will greatly expand their catalog of games.
THQ owes $45 million to WWE (unsecured creditor); Vince McMahon apparently “furious” [GameChup]
Ubisoft plots THQ bid [MCV, via GamePolitics]