Double Fine optimistic about regaining rights to Costume Quest and Stacking from THQ

THQ's slow but steady dissolution into oblivion continues to be more than mildly confusing.

Yesterday, representatives from the company announced that they were kicking off another auction to sell off more of the company's remnant games, rights and IP. The eclectic list of games were bundled together in six batches and included everything from the top-tier Darksiders and Red Faction games to one-offs like Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase.

The list drew more than a little consternation and confusion from some of the developers behind some of those single title games.

A representative for Jellyvision Games, Inc. told Polygon that they own the You Don't Know Jack intellectual property. "In fact, we are successfully publishing the award-winning property on Facebook, iPhone, iPad, and in the near future the Android platform," the rep said. "We have no comment on any aspect of the THQ bankruptcy."

This despite the game being listed among the assets being sold. That's most likely because some of the things being sold off aren't the IP, but rather publishing rights for a specific game, sometimes on a specific platform.

That's the boat Double Fine is in with two of their games, the developer tells Polygon.

"Double Fine owns the IP rights to Costume Quest and Stacking," Justin Bailey, vice president of Double Fine business development, told Polygon. "THQ retained limited distribution rights that we bid on during the previous process to reclaim them prior to their expiration. We are optimistic about regaining these distribution rights, as this process has already demonstrated that when there are parties interested in specific assets, those assets are worth more when sold separately."

Double Fine has previously self-published the PC version of those games, so it stands to reason the thing THQ is selling off are the rights to sell the game on PS3 and Xbox 360. To complicate the issue, in the case of Double Fine's games, they're bundled with 34 other games, many of which seem to be in the exact same boat.

Asked if Double Fine is currently in talks with THQ, Bailey said "We continue to participate in the process, but we have not heard from them directly."

We've reached out to THQ and will update this story if they respond.

The auction has also ignited some interest from previous developers of some of the games, rights and IP up for sale. Among them, some of the folks from MX vs ATV developers Rainbow Studios