Drawn to Life series acquired by 505 Games for $301K in second THQ auction

Publisher 505 Games has acquired the Drawn to Life series for $301,000 in the second bankruptcy auction for now-defunct publisher THQ, according to documents filed with the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware today.

The deal is pending approval by the court, which will come after a hearing that is set for May 13.

The acquisition covers the 2007 Nintendo DS title Drawn to Life, as well as its 2009 sequel on DS and Wii, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter. THQ owned the Drawn to Life intellectual property, but 505 Games' acquisition does not include the 2008 spin-off game Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition — THQ did not own the rights to it, since it was licensed from Nickelodeon.

The original Drawn to Life and the DS version of The Next Chapter were developed by 5th Cell Media, the studio behind the Scribblenauts franchise. Planet Moon Studios made the Wii version of The Next Chapter, and SpongeBob SquarePants Edition was developed by Altron.

Drawn to Life had been part of the fifth of six lots in the second THQ auction; its lot covered owned software such as Destroy All Humans! and Summoner. But 505 Games bid only on Drawn to Life. Aside from the Homeworld franchise, which Gearbox Software bought for $1.35 million, and 505 Games' purchase of Drawn to Life, "substantially all" of THQ's remaining IP — including Darksiders and Red Faction — was acquired by Vienna-based publisher Nordic Games for $4.9 million.

The aforementioned games and brands were part of a second THQ bankruptcy auction, because THQ either did not put them up for bidding in its first auction or because it failed to find a buyer for them at that time.

Update: We reached out to 505 Games for more information. A representative for the company told Polygon, "We have no comment at this time."