THQ's Untimely Demise

[Collective Foal]

Any thoughts and opinions on THQ's going under as a company, post here.

 

Honestly, I absolutely loved these guys. This company made 60% of my games as a child, as I was a heavy PS2 gamer and had a LOT of Nickelodeon licensed games, to which THQ had the rights.

 

I blame EA, quite frankly. They're a bunch of pricks who need to have fire ants stuffed into their colons with the only possibility of removal being their consignment for bankruptcy.

 

However, THQ gets ultimate Sir Points for going out with so much style as to donate all proceeds from their THQ bundle to charity. That was a beautiful act and it warms my heart to know that most gaming companies aren't EA.

 

If you know more details about this whole ordeal that you'd like to tell me because I'm an idiot and I don't know what I'm talking about, or you just wanna contribute, feel welcome.

[Pinkie Pie]

They made Destroy All Humans, one of my favorite underappreciated PS2 classics ever. They also made basically every licensed PS1 game I'd played as a kid. It sucks that they're gone, but I'd miss them more if DAH 3 was better.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Don't really miss them to be honest. They never really made any games I'm any huge fan of. Sure, some of their games were cool, like Red Faction, but for me, they were always just kinda there. I don't really give a f*ck if you hate me for this, but I'm a bigger fan of EA in this case since they're behind some of my favourite games ever like Mass Effect, Bulletstorm, Syndicate, and not to mention Need For Speed and so on and THQ just haven't given me anything in particular that's been to my taste or has affected me like those games. Sure, Red Faction was really cool but it came kinda short for me.

[BTGBullseye]

EA recently tried to ruin the NFS franchise (who'da guessed :/ ) with a crappy remake of Most Wanted, and they didn't even have the decency to change the name. (I'll not stand by you now despite all the awesome NFS titles they've had)

 

THQ ended up getting sold off piece by piece...

Warhammer 40k and Company of Heroes went to SEGA, so hopefully CoH2 and other W40k titles will be true to the originals. (unless EA runs them out of business too)

Deep Silver (Dead Island, the X series space sims) got the Saint's Row series and Metro. (look to them for Metro: Last Light)

Ubisoft got THQ Montreal... (can't find any info on popular games made by THQ-M)

Take-Two grabbed a chunk with Metamorphosis (aka Evolve), and Crytek took the Homefront franchise.

Currently Red Faction, Homeworld, and Darksiders are not bought, so keep an eye out for whoever is getting them.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I like the remake of Most Wanted. Crappy isn't the word I'd use about it. It has its flaws yes but I enjoy it overall. I really love the Autolog features for one.

 

So yeah, I like EA. Sue me, whatever.

[Collective Foal]

I like the remake of Most Wanted. Crappy isn't the word I'd use about it. It has its flaws yes but I enjoy it overall. I really love the Autolog features for one.

 

So yeah, I like EA. Sue me, whatever.

 

You don't like EA, is what it seems to me. You like all the companies that EA has swallowed and made work. Battlefield 3 is a pretty great game. It's made by DICE, but published by EA, who actually destroyed some features of the game that DICE wanted.

 

Mass Effect is produced by BioWare, but because EA bought them out, they get a massive chunk of the profits from those games.

 

People Can Fly were a really easy target for EA. They were for the most part an indie game company. Then EA gobbled them up and said "MAKE THE EPIC POTTYMOUTH GAME!"

 

NFS is one of the few EA games that is actually MADE BY EA. And yea, it's a good series, and I'll certainly concede that.

 

But EA is just a modern-day Standard Oil. They blanket monopolize, smothering small, GOOD companies with their oodles of money and releasing their games and taking the money they earned with only EA's ridiculous moderation and deadlines (which certainly don't help) to thank.

 

They actually did a study on Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation. Employees are far more productive and happy in an intrinsically motivating work environment (Valve style, where you work on what you want, when you want) than an extrinsic (EA style, where met deadlines and good products are rewarded with continued employment and the occasional raise.)

 

I personally think Valve's games are 100 times better than anything EA pops out. TF2 has lasted 6 years for a reason, whereas Call of Duty gets a new installment every year (if you want an EA example, every sports game by them, ever) but the mechanics stay the same and hardly anything gets seriously changed from the previous.

 

TL;DR : EA sucks because they don't do anything. They just collect money because they own everyone's asses.

[Lord Sinister]

It's my understanding that EA fund the salaries of the employees of said companies they control, as well as organise the advertising and distribution of the games they publish. I don't believe this is cheap. They're a publisher not a developer so they're obviously not going to be directly responsible for the actual game content, but they will have a hand in the direction it takes, the monetisation of game content, etc. They're probably behind the it's-not-drm-it's-feature always-online fabrication with the new Sim City. EA obviously aren't Saints, but I wouldn't say that EA as a company was all bad.

 

But more on topic, it is a shame about THQ, they did publish some games I enjoyed, such as the Company of Heroes games, Metro 2033, Dawn of War....however, I believe they apparently made some questionable financial decisions. Something to do with some drawing application or something, I don't really know the specifics.

 

Still, with any luck the franchises that have been scooped up will survive. I do wonder what will happen to the Homeworld franchise though as I think it's currently in limbo. Same with the Darksiders franchise as well I believe, although I've never played any of the Darksiders games.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I like the remake of Most Wanted. Crappy isn't the word I'd use about it. It has its flaws yes but I enjoy it overall. I really love the Autolog features for one.

 

So yeah, I like EA. Sue me, whatever.

 

You don't like EA, is what it seems to me. You like all the companies that EA has swallowed and made work.

Sure. Whatever.

[Humin]

I don't give a shit unless the games are painful to play, not just annoying or not up to par.

[BTGBullseye]

I don't give a shit unless the games are painful to play, not just annoying or not up to par.

So you don't like the 'always online only' DRM games either... I'm glad.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Unless the game is multiplayer, it makes no sense to me.

But let's stay on topic.

[Arby]

A few years ago EA was "the good guy" in the industry, they were pretty friendly with Valve and a lot of other companies back then (even publishing the port of the Orange Box.) I'm sad about THQ going under but I saw it coming for a while. Any news on what this is doing to Metro Last Light?

[Pinkie Pie]

A few years ago EA was "the good guy" in the industry, they were pretty friendly with Valve and a lot of other companies back then (even publishing the port of the Orange Box.)

 

I wanna say that that was just softening them up so that they could try to buy them out later (Which they did try) but that seems a bit too conspiratorial, even for me. But suffice to say, EA has never been the 'good guy'. Ever. They've been fucking up franchises since the late 1990's. Occasionally they make good games, but then they end up fucking up their original franchises, too.

 

Basically, they're apparently not very careful with their properties. If EA Sports titles can sell a ton every year when we hardly do anything to improve them, why shouldn't these other stupid games? I feel like they see every franchise as just being another sports game they can mildly tweak for a year and then release again with a new number attached.

 

Anyway, THQ is still gone. Now someone get on Destroy All Humans 4.

[Arby]

I meant it compared to Activision at the time, EA was looking a bit better by comparison.

[BTGBullseye]

Any news on what this is doing to Metro Last Light?

Deep Silver (Dead Island, the X series space sims) got the Saint's Row series and Metro. (look to them for Metro: Last Light)

You didn't read the rest of the thread did you...

[Obsidian]

I'm disappointed that no one bought the Darksiders series. I just got through playing the first one and had a lot of fun with it.

[BTGBullseye]

Darksiders 2 is better than 1 IMO, but yes Darksiders needs to be sold...