December 1, 2012 by

THQ humbled and desperate

Happy beginning to the countdown to Christmas, Xmas, holiday season, non-denominational celebration of the winter solstice you lovely festive bastards. It’s the season of giving, and right now you can go and pick up a bunch of pretty splendid THQ titles for next to nothing (or lots, if you are feeling generous) including Darksiders and, if you spend enough, Saints Row the Third. It’s all part of the latest Humble Bundle, boon to our wallets and to indie developers seeking to reach new consumers, developers like THQ.

Okay, okay, THQ is far from an indie developer, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t do with shifting a few games, desperately. The publisher/developer has been going through hard times this year, so much so that almost defaulted on its credit facility and had a limited presence at E3, forgoing even a booth. While the plight of the struggling indie developer is one people are more comfortable sympathising with, the rising cost of development and steep competition has put even once stable studios on the ropes.

For one of those funny foreign dollars you can nab a bounty of up to $190, which is not too shabby at all. The ridiculous deal has certainly benefited THQ, whose stock rose by almost 38 percent following the bundle. At this time, total payments amount to $2,881,033.64, with over 500,000 bundles being sold at an average of $5.68. THQ President Jason Rubin is one of the top contributors, donating $1050 of his own money. He’s probably feeling pretty pleased with the stock increase, as well.

Some have criticised the bundle due to THQ’s status as a major developer and publisher that has already sold substantially more of their titles than most indie devs can even dream of. It’s an us versus them mentality that I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of quite frequently, where indie developers stand for the consumers and pushing the envelope while AAA studios and publishers just want to milk our wallets and shove out mediocre products hidden behind shiny graphics. However, Darksiders, Metro 2033, Saints Row and countless other titles from the company should be worthy of people’s favour, even if Rubin dashed our hopes for a decent fourth Saints Row game by criticising it’s outlandishness and humour while praising the likes of Skyrim.

If a platform that traditionally promotes indie games can help to save a much larger organisation, a hell of a lot of jobs, and ensure more wonderful titles like Darksiders II then surely this is good, festively so. Plus, you know, cheap games you might not already own. We still like bargains, right?

Now, we have a whole month to get through before I go back to being a cynical dick; let’s get through it together.

via Eurogamer

 


  • http://www.awesomeoutof10.com/ Darik Kirschman

    A lot of people are up in arms about this bundle, saying that it goes against the founding principles of Humble Bundle, Inc. THQ isn’t an indie dev, but this isn’t a Humble Indie Bundle. The games aren’t DRM-free and they’re only Windows compatible.

    Sure, whatever, but the main thing about these bundles, to me anyway, is the fact that a large amount of the proceeds go to charity.

    I can’t ever get behind somebody whining about something negative in regards to a charity event. Shut up. If you don’t like the bundle, don’t buy it. Vote with your dollars. But don’t dare try and act like you’ve been wronged because some video games won’t work on your obscure Linux OS and has to be activated on Steam. There are far more important things that actually matter to get upset about. A charity drive isn’t really one of them.

    • Liam Dean

      Hey! Linux isn’t obscure! It’s got a massive user base and is potentially the salvation of PC gaming following the closed door policy of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 marketplace.

      I agree wholeheartedly with everything else you said though, Darik ;)

      • http://www.awesomeoutof10.com/ Andy Astruc

        Neeeeeeerd.

      • http://www.awesomeoutof10.com/ Darik Kirschman

        Well, when I said “obscure Linux OS” I more meant a specific Linux distro, like a hyper-obscure offshoot of Ubuntu or whatever. I have a lot of respect for those that use Linux, but to whine about not having their OS supported is kinda dumb. What do they expect, really? They’re a fringe group at best, compared to the average PC gamer market.

        If you’re into gaming on PC, you likely have a Windows machine. If you’re into gaming on a PC and you don’t have a Windows machine or are too stubborn to deal with it…that’s stupid. But yeah. Videogames.

        • http://twitter.com/FraserIBrown Fraser Brown

          Butyeahvideogames

      • http://twitter.com/ricochetguro Stephen Something

        Such exaggerations about Window 8′s marketplace are silly and the proclamation of linux as the salvation of PC gaming hilarious. It focuses on apps for the most part and the few games it does house are more casual experiences and Windows phone 8 ports. The traditional windows desktop portion of the OS is still the main hub for everything and not a single feature has been removed. In fact, much has been added to make the desktop superior to 7 but that’s another discussion. Microsoft has made no steps or even hinted at limiting the functionality of the windows desktop experience. One can still install steam and well, anything you can use on any other recent Windows OS. The marketplace is for the most part designed to attract people who want a less complicated hub for their media programs and news tickers. One can also run a metro app while still using the desktop so many new conveniences are had there in terms of multitasking.

        • Liam Dean

          Well, I was being sarcastic, but that doesn’t come across very well when I’m typing it in a comments box. You’re right. Linux is a long way off being a viable option for the bulk of PC games, but I really wouldn’t write it off as being a future contender. The fact that companies like Valve are looking at Linux is a big deal. Microsoft may regret the idea of the Windows Store at some point in the future.

          As for Windows 8 itself, I can only go off what I have seen and read as I have not tried it. I personally dislike their direction with the Metro interface very much. The idea that a PC should have a tablet’s interface is so ridiculous that it shouldn’t have got past the design stage. I have heard that Windows 8 runs very fast and efficiently. I’ve also heard that the desktop isn’t the monumental pain to use that everyone was expecting. But the way in which Windows forces you to continually swap between the Metro interface and the desktop to perform tasks like entering the Device Manager is not smooth. At all. I just wonder what was so wrong with their old design approach.

          • http://twitter.com/ricochetguro Stephen Something

            Ah ok, apologies for the overly harsh tone. It came across the wrong way to me. And I still doubt linux will ever be able to come close to Windows. Games still have to support Linux and 99.9% of them don’t. Think of how Steam now supports OSX but a very small subset of games work on macs still. Steam can perhaps entice developers to include linux support but I just don’t see it happening for better or worse.

            And your last point is one of the biggest misconceptions about Windows 8 and a major point as to how it actually increases efficiency. You’re never forced to enter the metro start to open device manager or anything else. All you have to do is hit Start+X and It’ll open up a menu (in the desktop) with all of the major things you’d want. You can open device manager, programs and features, command prompt, etc all within a few seconds. It’s so much quicker than any of the previous versions of windows. And it goes without saying but you can still open the device manager through the control panel. Sounds to me like you’ve read a lot of noise from people who didn’t really spend that much time with the OS.

            Would really recommend looking in the OS a bit more, It’s got a great set of new features and everything takes much less time to accomplish without sacrificing the degree of control you have.

            Note: Included a screeenshot of the quick bar I mentioned. Hopefully that lessens your worries about that aspect at the least.

          • Liam Dean

            Fair enough, I’ll take your word for it. It’s going to take me a long while to accept the Metro interface. I just don’t know what it really changes for the better. I may even just skip this version of Windows entirely and stick with Windows 7.

            I guess these things inevitably happen now and again with software houses though. They just want to spice things up and generate new selling points. It’s a shame that cohesive interfaces between Windows phones, tablets and PCs don’t interest me in the slightest.

            • http://twitter.com/ricochetguro Stephen Something

              Well, if you ever have any questions just ask in the chat. I think even if you don’t care about cohesion between various Microsoft products Windows 8 still has a lot to offer and improves from 7 in some pretty significant ways. And given how well done 7 was that’s saying a lot.

              I honestly wouldn’t want to go back to 7 now but It’s still a good OS none the less and if you aren’t sure about certain aspects of 8 I can see the reluctance and desire to stay.

              In any case, THQ! Shame they got to the position where they have to offer some of their best games in a bundle but hopefully this brings them some of the money they need.

        • http://twitter.com/FraserIBrown Fraser Brown

          And people who can’t imagine a world without their 360 interface.

          • http://twitter.com/ricochetguro Stephen Something

            As someone who absolutely despises the interface of the 360 with a passion, the Metro elements of Windows 8 are put together much better. They’re very different versions of Metro, Windows 8 is much closer to Windows phone 7 and 8 than the 360.

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