While the bankruptcy auction for THQ‘s intellectual property resulted in the bulk of their more popular franchises finding new owners, there are still plenty of the company’s assets that failed to attract any bids during the process. THQ’s president Jason Rubin has spoken up about the remaining IPs — which includes the Darksiders, the uDraw tablet and games (the final straw that broke the company’s cash flow statement), and the Double Fine-developed Costume Quest, among others — revealing that there will be a second sale for those unsold assets in the near future.
Speaking to Game Informer Rubin said, “There will be a separate process to sell off the back catalog and IP. That process will take place in the coming weeks.” Rubin did not clarify if the upcoming “process” will involve individual deals, another auction, or a some combination of the two.
While will have to wait for an official announcement from THQ to see exactly how the rest of the publisher’s assets will be broken up, there have been some hints as to where some of the IPs and former employees will eventually end up.
Both Electronic Arts and Take-Two are rumored to have already taken possession of THQ’s license to develop games based on the WWE franchise. Neither of theses reports have been confirmed either way, however, it does make sense for both companies to be looking to acquire that particular license.
Additionally, Platinum Games executive director Atsushi Inaba has publicly expressed an interest in buying the Darksiders IP on his Twitter account, saying “Oh man in THQ’s big sale it looks like nobody’s bought Darksiders … I’d love to buy that (if it was cheap).”
Finally, on an extremely positive note, Sony Santa Monica has sent out a Tweet to all former THQ employees that they “are hiring” and to let the studio know if they are interested.
We will keep any eye out for any further developments in THQ‘s bankruptcy sale and let you know as soon as anything turns up.
