R.I.P., THQ

For those who haven't read yet, once-massive game company THQ has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and been delisted from the NASDAQ.  While they may not be dead yet, this is essentially like saying "The doctors have pulled the plug, now we're just waiting for nature to take its course."   Now this great lumbering beast that has been churning out games since 1990 is breathing its last breath.


I'll kinda miss em.   I guess.  A little.



Over the years, THQ has given us some absolutely amazing games.  In the mid- to late-90s, they came out with some fun but forgettable SNES and Gameboy games.  In the PS2 generation, THQ really started coming into their own.  The Summoner games were excellent fantasy RPGs for their era, and were complimented by the action-packed destructable terrain Red Faction games.  The first couple of Destroy All Humans! games were a ton of fun.   They gave us the criminally underrated Darksiders series.  It was THQ that took Saints Row out of its "I desperately wanna be a GTA clone" into the madcap insanity it's evolved into today.  And I will forever be grateful to THQ for working extra hard to ensure S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow Of Chernobyl made it to US shores.

However....for every good game THQ released, there was a metric fuckton of trash.  I can fully understand grabbing licenses; Disney was a big one, as was Nickelodeon.  It makes sense to cash in on kids' trends like that, and I get it.   Did the world need 15 SpongeBob SquarePants games?   Probably not.  But I'm sure they made a pretty penny off of grabby kids and unsuspecting family members looking to buy a quick gift.   I get it.

But let us never forget, THQ also gave us this:

Along with SIX more Bratz-licensed games.  And then there's this gem:

Was the first one necessary?   Did the original Big Mutha Truckers' themes of big rig racing, rednecks, potty humor, and poorly rendered polygon boobs really sell so well that a sequel was warranted?   I'm pretty sure it was released directly to the discount bins at Big Lots.  And yet, THQ had enough confidence in it to stamp their label on a sequel.

And then, outnumbering all of their GOOD games combined, THQ has put out not 10, not 20, but 32 "professional" wrestling WWE/WWF and WCW games.

Thirty.  

Fucking.  

Two.  

Were people actually buying these things?  I mean they must have been, for THQ to to have made thirty-two of the little white trash abominations.  I don't know if this makes me lose more faith in THQ as a game dev and publisher, or in humanity for keeping the party going, but goddamn.

Going by the rumors, the fatal blow to THQ was the massive failure of the game Homefront.  I've never played the game, but have heard that it's an enormous clusterfuck of bad game design and a ridiculous plot that demands to be taken seriously like a 4 year old throwing a tantrum, paired with some terrible voice acting.   THQ's stock dropped by 26% with the release of the game, and they just never recovered.   About a month ago, they tried one last hail mary play to save the company, teaming up with the Humble Indie Bundle team to release the Humble THQ Bundle.  They packaged nine titles from all of their flagship IPs, including Saints Row The Third and all of its DLC, and released it as "pay what you want".  The Bundle brought in over $5 million, but it was just not enough to save the company.   On Dec 19th, they filed for bankruptcy, and on January 2nd, they were removed from the NASDAQ.  

So I'm of mixed feelings on the death of THQ.  They've really put out some amazing titles, and still have a couple more coming down the pipe, like the upcoming South Park RPG, The Stick Of Truth, developed by Obsidian Games.

But on the other hand, man they put out a shit-ton of shovelware.