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Bidding has closed on the bankruptcy auction for defunct publisher THQ's remaining game properties, with the 17 final bids expected to bring in $6 million to $7 million, according to court documents.
Bids on the company's remaining intellectual property were due on April 15, according to the documents filed earlier this week. The plan is to present the offers to the court in May with the goal of closing the sales before the end of that month. The filing doesn't specify which properties were bid on or for how much, instead noting that they received 17 final bids for "certain of the IP." If approved by the court and certain holders of claims against THQ, those sales are expected to bring in anywhere from $6 million to $7 million.
The company's property was bundled together into six different lots and then opened up for auctioning in February. Those lots consisted of the following titles and franchises:
- Darksiders series
- Red Faction series
- Homeworld series
- MX series
- Other Owned Software, including Big Beach Sports, Destroy All Humans!, Summoner, and more
- Other Licensed Software, including Marvel Super Hero, Supreme Commander, Worms, and more
While none of the bids were detailed in the filing, early this morning developers at teamPixel wrote that they had been outbid on the Homeworld IP. The mobile and desktop app developer had plans to develop Homeworld 3 for Windows PC, Mac and Linux.
"Homeworld will escape the THQ bankruptcy to a new home, however, that home will not be with teamPixel, LLC," the Kickstarter update reads. "The auction for the Homeworld license ended April 15, 2013, and while we reached qualified bidder status for the bankruptcy auction, we were unable to raise the necessary funds to remain competitive against the other parties at the auction."
The recent 55-page court filing also summarizes the financial bankruptcy of THQ, noting that the company suffered operating losses during each of the five fiscal years prior to its filing, and offers a bit more insight into the drama that unfolded during the January auction of THQ's main properties.
Seventeen bids were made for THQ's remaining properties. If approved they would sell for $6 million to $7 million.
Space Investors, the "stalking horse" bidder" for much of the company, had initially agreed to take on the assets and some liabilities for Volition, Vigil, Relic and THQ Montreal, according to the document; however, the people with unsecured claims against the company wouldn't have received any money in that deal.
After the court rejected the offer and opened THQ's assets to auction, Space Investors made an offer for much of the company, but was outbid, according to the document. The end result, though, was that Space Investors' bids bumped up the final sales prices for the studios by a total of more than $3 million.
According to the state of Delaware's division of incorporations, Space Investors, an affiliate of Clearlake Capital Group, was formed on Dec. 18, 2012. just weeks prior to its stalking horse bid.
The document also detailed the deal that landed Take-Two the World Wrestling Entertainment video game license and the continued involvement of developer Yuke's in the franchise.
Correction: This story initially misidentified the company that purchased the rights to Blue Tongue Entertainment. The name and website were purchased by a family trust for Chris Mosely, former CEO of Blue Tongue Entertainment, for $15,000.
