What do the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Penguins and THQ have in common? All filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy
THQ announced today that it has found an investor, a private equity firm named Clearlake Capital Group, that would like to buy the essential parts of THQ. Those parts are the game makers, such as Relic and THQ Montreal, the I.P. guys, the contracts that THQ has as well as the support staff. It also appears that the Clearlake group will be loaning THQ money so they can finish future projects as well as projects they are working on now.
However, to finish the process, THQ had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy today. It would appear that the people at THQ don’t see this as an end; they see it as a whole new start, complete with fresh capital coming in. Ch. 11 allows other companies to bid for THQ. What THQ was most adamant about was the games they have planned for the future. The present of THQ, Jason Rubin, stated that “Whatever happens, the teams and products look likely to end up together and in good hands. That means you can still pre-order Metro: Last Light, Company of Heroes 2, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. Our teams are still working on those titles as you read this, and all other rumored titles, like the fourth Saints Row, the Homefront sequel, and a lot more are also still in the works.”
It’s good that in this tough time for THQ, they still care about the fans and why shouldn’t they? It will be the fans that will buy the games and help them get out of this funk they are in. As for the timing, you could just chalk that up to when they started the process. Rubin said that “So if you work backwards to allow the necessary time to complete a sale, you end up at this week.” Hopefully, THQ sorts this out and gets things fixed because they have some interesting games coming out soon and I don’t want to miss them The South Park game is something I want to see.
