Rumor: Ubisoft in talks for THQ assets

Unnamed sources claim that Ubisoft is in extended talks with THQ over the acquisition of its assets in the wake of THQ's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

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THQ president Jason Rubin says the publisher's gamers are still running smoothly after its recent bankruptcy filing, but the company's assets are on the market regardless. Some publishers are actively eying THQ's various properties, and a new report suggests that the French publisher of Assassin's Creed may be seriously interested.

Citing unnamed sources, MCV reports that Ubisoft is in lengthy discussions with THQ. But, the sources also imply that Ubisoft is holding out for an especially good price on the publisher. That would put Ubisoft in charge of all five of THQ's studios, and give it the rights to brands like Saints Row, Darksiders, and Red Faction.

THQ's method of bankruptcy keeps the company running as it negotiates, making it attractive as an acquisition target. Ubisoft is already a powerhouse publisher with ambitious plans to grow even larger, so plucking some already well-known brands with full-fledged studios to run them would seem to make sense.

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  • reply
    December 21, 2012 11:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Rumor: Ubisoft in talks for THQ assets.

    Unnamed sources claim that Ubisoft is in extended talks with THQ over the acquisition of its assets in the wake of THQ's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

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      December 21, 2012 11:32 AM

      FUCK.

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        December 22, 2012 5:50 AM

        Yeah, that's the first thing I thought off. Leave Relic and Volition alone!

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      December 21, 2012 11:32 AM

      noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo




      i'd prefer EA.

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      December 21, 2012 11:33 AM

      terrible

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        December 21, 2012 11:34 AM

        Why?

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          December 21, 2012 12:40 PM

          Because Ubi is terrible about their DRM

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            December 21, 2012 12:42 PM

            [deleted]

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              December 21, 2012 12:52 PM

              I more object to the constant online and we boot you if your connection goes down kind. Sure, they switch around every so often and it may not be bad at the moment, but there's not guarantee they won't just flip back at any particular moment.

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                December 21, 2012 3:33 PM

                uplay doesn't have a constant connection requirement and hasn't for a long time. You can play offline.

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                  December 21, 2012 3:38 PM

                  As I understand it, that is a truth with some modifications even in the best case scenario and doesn't apply to some games at all. Also Ubisoft has previously removed constant online DRM from a game only to patch it back in later. I only ever buy Ubisoft games from gog.com.

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              December 21, 2012 1:17 PM

              I wish that was all HOMM6 had!

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              December 21, 2012 1:24 PM

              He may be referring to UPLAY being a piece of shit. Half the time I try to launch a game it tells me I own none and forces me to restart the program to get them. Pathetic.

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            December 21, 2012 12:56 PM

            They dropped that always online requirement earlier this year. I can play AC3 and FC3 offline after activation once online, that's pretty much in line with what EA does now.

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              December 21, 2012 12:58 PM

              Once a cocksucker always a cocksucker. Trust is earned.

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            December 21, 2012 1:26 PM

            Man they stopped using that a long time ago.

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          December 22, 2012 5:51 AM

          Their really shitty PC support is the first thing that comes to mind. I honestly hope this never comes through. I hope the THQ recovers own it's own.

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      December 21, 2012 11:45 AM

      Ubi is slightly better than EA, but only just.

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      December 21, 2012 11:49 AM

      HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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        December 21, 2012 12:27 PM

        OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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      December 21, 2012 11:49 AM

      Welcome back Mr Désilets, we've missed you.

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      December 21, 2012 11:51 AM

      Hm...

      Mixed feelings about this.

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      December 21, 2012 11:52 AM

      [deleted]

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      December 21, 2012 11:56 AM

      Not going to happen.

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      December 21, 2012 12:18 PM

      The next Metro 2033 you will have to climb subway cars to unlock parts on the map in the tunnel. Then jump off

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      December 21, 2012 12:26 PM

      anybody else really think uPlay is great? i haven't had any problems with it...

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        December 21, 2012 1:03 PM

        I think it's worthless middleware.

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        December 21, 2012 1:15 PM

        well the first console implementations were shitty, the pc app seems fine, but having another program launch from steam and then having to launch the game from there is just silly.

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        December 21, 2012 1:20 PM

        You're not even trying.

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        December 21, 2012 1:24 PM

        [fry] you are a smart man at least your mind is not clouded.

        I think it is great it auto updates is light weight has cool features. Uplay Achievements are rad cause you can actually get in game stuff for free all achievement systems should copy them.

        Those that are hating on Ubisoft are just looking at their past and their harsh DRM. It is a freaking shame for they no longer do that and have learned their lesson. No one is perfect.

        If you ignore the old DRM issue they have had a amazing lineup of software every year solidly and this year have again released some of my favorite games shit FC3 to me is GOTY. So many people look at a small part of a big picture and amplify a single negative point.

        Bottom line the devs get maximum freedom at Ubisoft are super creative make rad IP's year after year so why on earth would you not want the rad IP's of THQ not have such a home. Would people rather EA take it on or should they just get dissolved all together? I mean sure people say Valve should take it over, yeah that be cool but guess what in this case they don't give a shit(thus far) or we would see a different heading.

        The old DRM is gone people need to get over it. Anyways rage out.

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        December 21, 2012 1:44 PM

        I got FC3 from that D2P site and it worked. So no issues here. I'd rather nothing need to use a client to ever play a game. It's especially worse when a client launches another client.

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        December 21, 2012 2:23 PM

        It's a complete piece of shit as far as playing AC:Recollection on the iPad is concerned. I loved that game and don't play it anymore b/c I'm tired of uPlay crashing every single time I try to log in.

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        December 21, 2012 3:16 PM

        i havent had any problems but that doesn't make it great

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        December 21, 2012 3:25 PM

        The stupid uPlay cloud-save thing they added in AC:Rev did the opposite of what you'd hope and deleted my save game about 1/3 into the game. (This was right after a crash.) Also, it appears there is no way to recover from the cloud, so I'm out of luck.

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        December 21, 2012 3:33 PM

        Also no issues with uplay.

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        December 21, 2012 7:49 PM

        havent had any issues.

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      December 21, 2012 12:30 PM

      Wouldn't it be rather awesome if dracogen bought up/invested in relic and let it go on as an independent studio like Double fine?

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      December 21, 2012 12:40 PM

      THQ should sell Relic off to Bethesda/ZeniMax or something.

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      December 21, 2012 12:43 PM

      Who gives a fuck? As long as we get more Dawn of War or Space Marine!!!

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        December 21, 2012 9:17 PM

        Every time I say the name of that game...I do it in a really bad Ork/Cockney accent...that isn't even recognizable as anything.

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      December 21, 2012 12:45 PM

      eh. and there's the kick in the beanbag humble bundle buyers half expected.

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      December 21, 2012 1:00 PM

      lol @ nerd rage :)

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      December 21, 2012 1:01 PM

      meh. in the end it'll be bain capital or something

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        December 21, 2012 7:47 PM

        Another private equity firm, Clearlake Capital, is already acquiring THQ's assets as part of the Chapter 11 process.

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          December 21, 2012 7:57 PM

          sure, but clearlake could just as well sell to a series of PE firms

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      December 21, 2012 1:18 PM

      Fuck no

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      December 21, 2012 1:47 PM

      nooooo........

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      December 21, 2012 3:05 PM

      The rage over this is pretty humorous. What if EA bought THQ? Better/worse than ubi?

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        December 21, 2012 3:07 PM

        Better by a small margin at least.

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          December 22, 2012 8:26 AM

          It would be better at first, but then it would nosedive once they started churning out sequels like all their other games, i.e. Westwood games.

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        December 21, 2012 3:08 PM

        About the same.

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        December 22, 2012 5:53 AM

        I don't want any Activision, EA, or Ubi anywhere near THQ. All of them have kinda shafted PC gamers in the past several years so fuck that noise.

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      December 21, 2012 3:17 PM

      Does "assets" just mean copyrights and that kind of thin? Or would it include hiring people as well?

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        December 21, 2012 3:41 PM

        Does not usually include talent, no. Assets would be the IP rights mostly. But, it really depends on what they're buying. Just the IP or the IP and studios, etc. Makes a difference.

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      December 21, 2012 7:07 PM

      I'm ok with this. Ubi actually publish some good games. Their DRM scheme sucked balls, but now it's toned down to the same as everyone else it's almost ok.

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        December 22, 2012 5:55 AM

        Now imagine Company of Heroes 2 coming out on consoles first. Saint's Row 4 being a shitty port 2 months later.

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      December 21, 2012 7:31 PM

      Could Valve handle those IP's?

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      December 21, 2012 7:49 PM

      Ubisoft and THQ are my 2 favourite publishers. I've had no issues with uplay so I'm fine with this. Let's get it done.

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        December 22, 2012 5:55 AM

        I really like some of their properties, but fuck Ubi's shitty treatment of PC gamers.

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      December 21, 2012 8:43 PM

      Don't quite know how I feel about Ubisoft acquiring THQ.

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        December 21, 2012 10:05 PM

        Its better than an alternative of THQ going belly up. I don't think uplay is that bad, its pretty transparent these days - most arguments i've seen involve ubi being evil and uplay having issues. I haven't had any issues with ubi games or uplay, personally.

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          December 21, 2012 10:06 PM

          Also, I think ubi has listened to feedback in terms of making uplay usable offline and transparent -- I barely notice uplay when I fire up any AC2 series game or AC3. Its totally unlike GFWL which bugs me to no end.

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            December 22, 2012 8:03 AM

            Guess my biggest fear is how much money they throw at my favorite licences. When they put their full might behind things, they can turn out really well (Assassins Creed). When they don't, it's not so pretty (Heroes of Might and Magic).

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      December 21, 2012 8:52 PM

      HISS!

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      December 21, 2012 11:08 PM

      [deleted]

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      December 24, 2012 1:38 PM

      Noooooooo, fuck off with your DRM and Uplay, Ubisoft.

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      December 25, 2012 3:05 PM

      5 years from now, Ubisoft files for bankruptcy.

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