could someone please shed some light on this whole THQ thing for me?

[Oly J]

hello everyone, um, I hope you'll pardon my ignorance but I'm really not sure what precisely is going on here, I gather that THQ have been in some financial trouble for a while but that's really all I know, I've got no context or background or anything,

also it seems strange to me that THQ should be struggling at all, the have Saints Row, a very popular franchise, they make the annual WWE games, which, I think are the only things close to a sports title that EA doesn't have and I've seen their logo on more (quite popular) games than I can presently call to mind, not to mention they're developing the upcoming South Park RPG, which is sure to sell among South Park fans at least, so yeah what exactly happened that put them in any financial trouble? or have I completely got it wrong?

 

[madwarper]

Did you see this week's News Wrap [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-wrap/6580-Gamers-Ask-for-GTA-V-PC-and-THQ-Sued-Over-Tattoo]?

Basically, a tattoo artist owns the copyright to the work he did on a UFC fighter. That fighter and the ink's likeness were in THQ's game. Thus, the tattoo artist is suing for copyright infringement.

Though, if I were to be on that jury, I'd most likely award the tattoo artist $1. Sure, he's technically in the right, but the people who play UFC will be wanting to play with the "good fighter", not "The Guy with the Lion Tattoo".

 

[DustyDrB]

(Isn't this Gaming Discussion material? Come on, don't drag down my rate of 90% of posts being in that forum)

They haven't really had a massively successful game compared to other major publishers. They've had some moderate successes, though, so it really even confuses me how they're in such trouble. Maybe it's the marketing budget? I wouldn't be surprised if they really do blow a lot on that. Darksiders II and Saint's Row 3 both were both marketed like crazy.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Basically, if Saints Row the Third was not as big of a success as it was, THQ probably wouldn't exist anymore. They've cancelled a lot of their long-term projects and pretty much just trying to survive for a few years at a time.

Right now, THQ is pretty much resting all of their hopes on the South Park game. The reason they delayed it a little while back is they absolutely cannot afford for that game to suck. Hell, if they weren't working on the South Park game, they might have gone under already, because (if I'm understanding this right) one bank allowed them to not pay back their loans until the game is done, and even let them take out new loans to finish the game. Even people outside of gaming are seeing that this game might be enough to keep THQ going for at least another couple of years.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I really hope they survive.

I'd hate to have that WWE license in any other publisher's hands.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Hmm, this is news to me, I didn't know THQ was in troubled times right now. Oh well, looks like there won't be any more SR3 DLC... Wait, doesn't THQ publish Company of Heroes? I'm pretty sure they'll be just fine until after that's released. I mean, it widely considered the best WWII RTS... People aren't going to let them die when CoH2 is on the line.

 

[mad825]

I really hope they survive.

I really hope that they die.

If they survive, they will be liming around like a wounded three legged dog. This means that THQ will exploiting and milking their IPs like they did with SR3.

 

[thatonedude11]

The main reason THQ is in this shitstorm to begin with is UDraw. THQ was banking a ton of money on that, and they made millions of those stupid UDraw tablets. Then no one bought them. That is pretty much why THQ is so desperate right now.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I really hope they survive.

I really hope that they die.

If they survive, they will be liming around like a wounded three legged dog. This means that THQ will exploiting and milking their IPs like they did with SR3.

I call bullshit on this.

THQ isn't EA, they don't just exploit their franchises.

 

[Kopikatsu]

(Isn't this Gaming Discussion material? Come on, don't drag down my rate of 90% of posts being in that forum)

They haven't really had a massively successful game compared to other major publishers. They've had some moderate successes, though, so it really even confuses me how they're in such trouble. Maybe it's the marketing budget? I wouldn't be surprised if they really do blow a lot on that. Darksiders II and Saint's Row 3 both were both marketed like crazy.

Because 'moderate success' isn't good enough. AAA games take fundiculous amount of money to create, advertise, distribute, etc.

THQ just had one too many 'moderate successes' to be able to stay afloat any longer.

Funfact: http://whatisthqworth.com/ (It changes each time you refresh)

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well their games sell fine enough to make a profit out of it, however THQ has bunched up quite a dept with horrible business decisions over the years and now they can no longer keep their head above water.

So their kids are doing well but daddy already gambled the mortgage away and it won't be long till it all goes to ground.

 

[Rednog]

Lots of the big companies have gone into the free-to-play/casual/small game market, primarily because there (currently) is a general trend of small investment big reward. And in those cases even if there is a flop you can take the same amount which you would invest in a single big game into multiple small games and have a higher success rate of turning a profit. THQ functions under the policy of making only/mostly big games, thus when their games aren't big blockbuster hits there is a problem. I give THQ some props for not "selling out", but at the same time I could see selling out as the one move they could do to keep the lights on.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I'm pretty sure THQ's plummet began with uDraw.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117895-uDraw-Debacle-Spurs-Investigation-Into-THQ

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117973-uDraw-Disaster-Leads-to-Lawsuit

 

[mad825]

I really hope they survive.

I really hope that they die.

If they survive, they will be liming around like a wounded three legged dog. This means that THQ will exploiting and milking their IPs like they did with SR3.

I call bullshit on this.

THQ isn't EA, they don't just exploit their franchises.

lol, great hypothesis.

Just like EA, THQ are a business and at the end of the day business is business. THQ's attempt to make a COD clone (Homefront) and a diminished game lacking many features from it's predecessor (SR3) proves otherwise.

 

[Andy Shandy]

It's mainly due to the uDraw thing they put a lot of money into, and turned out to be a massive failure.

And Homefront didn't do as well as they thought it might have done either.

 

[lRookiel]

Company of heroes 2 should help their situation, atleast I hope it will >.<

It would be sad to see them go

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Did you see this week's News Wrap [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-wrap/6580-Gamers-Ask-for-GTA-V-PC-and-THQ-Sued-Over-Tattoo]?

Basically, a tattoo artist owns the copyright to the work he did on a UFC fighter. That fighter and the ink's likeness were in THQ's game. Thus, the tattoo artist is suing for copyright infringement.

Though, if I were to be on that jury, I'd most likely award the tattoo artist $1. Sure, he's technically in the right, but the people who play UFC will be wanting to play with the "good fighter", not "The Guy with the Lion Tattoo".

Personally I'd force him to pay THQ's legal fees plus damages for a frivolous lawsuit. It's a Tattoo, which means it's physically a part of the person it's been drawn on. What, is he going to charge everyone that takes a picture of the guy with copyright infringement?

OT: As others have said, bad business decisions, particularly with the uDraw. Then again, I'm not too sad to see THQ go. They were responsible for what seems like the vast majority of terrible GBA shovelware, and they're one of the companies that was pushing the whole project $10 thing. I'd like to see every last one of those companies burn.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I don't want em to go under. That South Park game might be some fun.

...

They could try getting funds from kickstarter?

 

[Irridium]

I'm pretty sure THQ's plummet began with uDraw.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117895-uDraw-Debacle-Spurs-Investigation-Into-THQ

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117973-uDraw-Disaster-Leads-to-Lawsuit

Pretty much this. They sunk a LOT into the uDraw thing. And it tanked. Hard. They were banking on the casual crowd when it was still a big thing, then that bubble burst, and... yeah.

 

[Jandau]

Bloated budgets that don't get covered by the sales. A lot of their games are well received by critics and gamers, but don't get the sales they need. Oh, the games sell, but when a game sells 2 million copies and it's still not turning a profit (Darkisders 2, for instance), you should probably reconsider a few things in how you do business. Add a few completely failed projects (most notably uDraw) and you can see why they are in the shitter.

THQ wants to be EA, wants to be Activision, but doesn't have the resources to play the mainstream AAA game. They'd be better off focusing on their strong IPs and make games with reasonable budgets that will be able to turn a profit on 1-2 million sales. Then again, most of the industry would be better off that way...