THQ Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy | Hacker News Reader

THQ Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

kotaku.com

47 pointsImpossible20 comments

Well, this is Chapter 11, not Chapter 7. We'll probably see them continue making games, even if they're investors are wiped out and their creditors take a haircut. There might be layoffs, but if they were going to liquidate they'd be in Chapter 7.

Looks like that Humble Bundle did wonders.

THQ decided to go for Pay (Back) What You Want.

I don't think Filing for Chapter 11 is something you decide to do one weekend so I wonder how much THQ knew what was going to happen in a few weeks and what they gained by putting out the Humble Bundle. Maybe it was a move to get something out of the Chapter 11 proceedings.

They obviously knew. Most people I talked to knew that this was coming regardless of the bundle sale, and most people in the press seemed to know as well. The big question is whether it bought them anything. $5 million is a lot for an indie studio, but it's a drop in the bucket for a company with annual losses 30x that, and annual revenue over half a billion.

It will buy them a lot of influence with potential purchasers or investors. Being able to say that they were able to sell old games in such a high volume is unusual for a company in such dire financial straits. The sale also will help to build excitement and get more journalistic attention for their next games, which is probably also the reason they have been giving away Metro: 2033 via Facebook.

If this is the plan it's quite desperate, but it just could work.

Saints Row 3 is likely what sold many of the bundle copies. It's not an old game, it's a well-reviewed 1 year old AAA game that sells for 40 dollars on steam.

That's why I bought the bundle for $5. I hadn't heard of it much before but I knew it was a fairly new game compared to the others.

Yeah, I think it was really to show brand value for Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Metro 2033, etc. I think all of the games in the bundle currently have sequels being developed.

Yes and no. It shows that their games lineup is still relevant and popular. But on the other hand that level of popularity is still orders of magnitude too low to support their levels of expenses. Maybe their purchaser, which appears to be Clearlake, thinks they can shrink expenses enough to make them profitable.

I wrote for a videogame magazine for three years and have been a life-long gamer. This is sad news. The past five years they've mostly been known for their licensed games (WWE, Nickelodeon), but THQ is still a brand that I believe many in the videogame community still enjoy seeing, if only out of nostalgia. Their support of the Saints Row series, many other smaller studios, and even putting out some decent games by licensed products standards, means this is a loss for the gaming industry.

They may not have been managed well or been industry-leaders, but it's a tough business and I hope we will continue to see their three-letter logo on new games in the future.

The world has abandoned us. We fight alone, against an insidious enemy... an enemy who would destroy the Commonwealth, who would have our nation crumble from within. But we are strong enough to fight the Red Faction. You asked for greatness. I have given it to you. You asked for victory. It is within our grasp!!! Do not ask me to surrender to our enemies. I WILL NOT!!!

So why they did the humble bundle?!?!?!

Chapter 11 is for protection from creditors while you re-organize. They're not planning to go out of business.

Homefront 2, huh?

The handed over development to Crytek (UK), so it seems like they are making an effort to improve the quality of the game.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/38684/Crytek-UK-to-build-...

I see a lot of hate online for Homefront but personally I like the online play quite a bit.

It's entertaining and has decent maps. It's just too bad no one plays the DLC maps.

The sequel that nobody asked for. It looks likely the original game probably contributed to their current financial situation in the first place. It wasn't a bad game, but certainly no Saints Row. They should definitely get their priorities right if they want to get through this Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Focusing on Saints and CoH are probably decisions they should seriously consider.

I'm still hoping to see those new games of theirs on Linux, if they intend to use the Unity 4 engine for them.

You're just throwing buzzwords together aren't you?

Phoronix reported that THQ is considering Linux ports of their games, and currently using Unity for a project: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI1N...

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