SEGA has purchased Relic

[Aki-at]

http://www.gamersglobal.de/news/63674/thq-verkauf-sega-kauft-relic-koch-evolve-crytek-homefront

Seems to be edging more and more towards a certainty rather than a rumour, Ubisoft, Crytek and Koch Media seem to be the other winning bids too.

Company of Heroes 2 is slated to be coming out sometime early 2013 and I imagine we will get the Warhammer 40k license from Games Workshop. I am more hopeful though that SEGA will now not fall into the pitfall of focusing on simply the mobile market which was one of my biggest worries with the restructuring but with expanding CA and now the purchase of Relic, it shows they're willing to spend money on quality productions.

So what says you SEGAbits folk?

[Team Andromeda]

Good move this is a great studio , but I wish SEGA would really make a move for Volition- that's a great developer with some great In-House Tech and SEGA should do all it can to snap up Metro: Last Light too

[Happy Cat]

looks like it's pretty much confirmed
https://twitter.com/kyleberndt/status/294166753599164416

updated the thread title but didn't touch aki's post

[Radrappy]

at this rate Sega will become a leading force in the RTS market.  Not what I wanted or expected but hey, a quality developer is a quality developer. 

[Happy Cat]

To All THQ Employees:

We now have the answers we've been seeking through our financial restructuring and
Chapter 11 case. While much will be written, here are the facts of the bids and auction
that occurred:

Yesterday morning, we received a competing bid for the operating business,
along with Clearlake's offer, and numerous offers for separate assets.
During an auction process that lasted over 22 hours, the final conclusion was
that the separate-asset bids would net more than a single buyer for the majority
of the company.

Shortly, we will, present the results to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which must
concur with our assessment.

The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :

    Sega agreed to purchase Relic
    Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
    Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
    Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve and
    Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park
    We expect these sales to close this week.


Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other
intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of
the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

What this means for employees

We expect that most employees of the entities included in the sale will be offered
employment by the new owners. However, we cannot say what these owners may
intend, and there will likely be some positions that will not be needed under the
new ownership. You should receive notice this week or early next week if the new
owners intend to extend employment to you. Please note that the terms of your new
employment, including pay and benefits, may be different from the current terms of
your employment with THQ.

If you are an employee of an entity that is not included in the sale, we regret that
your position will end. A small number of our headquarters staff will continue to be
employed by THQ beyond January 25 to assist with the transition. THQ has sufficient
resources to pay these employees for work going forward, and we will be contacting
these employees immediately to ensure their continued employment during this
transition period. We are requesting the ability to offer certain severance pay to
minimize disruption for employees of non-included entities as they determine the next
steps in their careers.

We know you will have many questions about this news. We'll be meeting tomorrow
when we return to talk through this announcement and to answer any questions you
have. You will receive a benefits fact sheet and FAQs with answers to some questions
that may be on your mind. Please review these materials closely.

A personal note

The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative, creative,
artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of what we have
accomplished despite today's outcome.

It has been our privilege to work alongside the entire THQ team. While the company
will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our studios and games will
continue under new ownership. We were hoping that the entire company would remain
intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be
operating as part of new organizations.

For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we
are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you
take the next steps in your career.

Thank you all for your dedication and for sharing your talent with the THQ team. We
wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Brian Farrell
Chief Executive Officer

Jason Rubin
President

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=46809869&postcount=2352

[nuckles87]

I don't think SEGA was ever in danger of focusing on the mobile market. If anything, this seems to be an expansion of SEGA's increased focus on digital games. They are increasingly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the PC market.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Sucks what happened to Vigil... Wonder what will happen with Darksiders if someone buys it?

[loempiavreter]

It's great for fans of fans probably, but this is not the SEGA that I support. I care little for RTS games, I care more for the SEGA that made those Arcade classics. I don't like this direction...

Ah well collecting SEGA arcade stuff is expensive enough as it is, so maybe the drought off quality an the focus of the entire videogame market on crappy pseudo-hollywood FPS and RPG in the last years is good for my wallet.

[Randroid]

I think this acquisition fits in nicely beside Creative Assembly and is great overall for Sega West.

Does this mean that Sega now has licensing rights to WarHammer 40k?

[MadeManG74]

That's really interesting, I was really looking forward to COH2 as well. Sega seems to have a decent PC presence now, which is really great.

[Sharky]

Just want to say that I love this news... I love RTS games and I played a ton of Company of Heroes with my friends. With Total War and War Hammer from CA and Company of Heroes and WarHammer 40k from relic Sega is pretty much the biggest RTS powerhouse out there.

The only down side to this is that Sega did not get the rights to Home World with buying Relic. Home World is their other space RTS and it's got a big cult following. The HomeWorld IP will go up for auction soon. I hope Sega bids.

[max_cady]

I am happy for the RTS market, as SEGA is certainly building up muscle. I also think having Relic onboard will allow Creative Assembly to do other projects. I really wanna see their upcoming Aliens game.

Shame they didn't get Volition, 'cause Saints Row is a franchise that would be just perfect for SEGA to have it's catalogue.

[ROJM]

http://www.gamersglobal.de/news/63674/thq-verkauf-sega-kauft-relic-koch-evolve-crytek-homefront

Seems to be edging more and more towards a certainty rather than a rumour, Ubisoft, Crytek and Koch Media seem to be the other winning bids too.

Company of Heroes 2 is slated to be coming out sometime early 2013 and I imagine we will get the Warhammer 40k license from Games Workshop. I am more hopeful though that SEGA will now not fall into the pitfall of focusing on simply the mobile market which was one of my biggest worries with the restructuring but with expanding CA and now the purchase of Relic, it shows they're willing to spend money on quality productions.

So what says you SEGAbits folk?

  It probably means that any future Company Of Heroes games will start getting updated and released on a more regular basis than it has before which may please or irritate some fans.
Myself though i was still hoping that Sega would publish Devil's Third game.


Here's a quote from Games Workshop in an article from Polygon..

Many will carry over to new relationships; for example, Games Workshop will "work in good faith" with Sega — the new owner of Relic, the studio that created titles based on its intellectual property — in order to satisfy its objections to the sale.

That's official, Sega has the WARHAMMER 40K license meaning WARHAMMER  is all complete! and most likely COMPANY OF HEROES IP too. Not bad.

[Nameless 24]

Eh? SEGA paid the most for one of THQ's Developers?

I thought they had no money to spend?

[crackdude]