Big Huge Games - For Sale or Closure

Remember Big Huge Games (Rise of Nations) and their Ken Rolston-lead RPG? We haven't really seen anything from the ex-Bethsoft designer's project and it doesn't seem like we will, with Kotaku reporting THQ will shut the studio down in 60 days if they don't find a buyer. Ironically, our last newsbit for this topic was THQ buying the studio. A snip:

Sources close to the studio say that Big Huge Games, developer of the Rise of Nations series and Catan for Xbox Live Arcade, has been given notice by THQ, which has intentions to close the studio within 60 days. Official response from THQ is that the publisher informed the Timonium, Maryland-based Big Huge Games that it plans to close the studio if a buyer is not found "in the near future."

CrispyGamer says staff have been notified and they provide an official statement from THQ:

“As part of THQ’s previously announced business realignment and related headcount reduction plans that targeted cost reductions of $220 million, including a reduction in workforce of 600 people worldwide, THQ today notified the staff at two of its development studios that they will be spun out as independent companies: Heavy Iron in Los Angeles, CA, and Incinerator in Carlsbad, CA. In addition, THQ informed the staff at its Big Huge Games studio in Timonium, MD, that it plans to close the studio if a sale is not completed in the near future. These actions were unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment.”

More information.

Odd, they did make quite nice games. While companies flourish which made so much trash games. What a strange world…

The press release seems a little odd, I think. I smiled at the "spun out" mistake (should be "spun off") but everything taken together seems a little strange.

To me, announcing that they're going to have to close the doors at Big Huge Games unless they find a buyer soon is sort of like listing something on Ebay with the comment, "Make a good offer soon, because I'm ready to throw this in the trash."

And it surprised me that someone in charge of investor relations was negative about giving the other two studios their own P&L's. I suppose she was just being frank, but it still seems unusual.

Just a thought … First they buy it, then they close it ?

That can be interpreted in two ways:

1. They only wanted licenses and trade marks and IP. Nothing else, not the company at all. Like vampires.

2. They want to eradicate a possible competor.

This just as some thoughts …

I wounder what their big Huge RPG was about, and how far it had gone in development……

You're seeing conspiracies everywhere.

How about the most simple answer:
Due to the economic situation THQ is so fucked that they need to cut costs now?

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Just a thought … First they buy it, then they close it ?

That can be interpreted in two ways:

1. They only wanted licenses and trade marks and IP. Nothing else, not the company at all. Like vampires.

2. They want to eradicate a possible competor.

This just as some thoughts …

Originally Posted by Gorath
How about the most simple answer:
Due to the economic situation THQ is so fucked that they need to cut costs now?

Well, that's pretty much what THQ announced, isn't it?

Maybe the problem is that they paid too much for Ken and some of the other team members. I say that because the only potential buyers I can imagine possibly being pressured by a threat to close the company are its employees. Could the next thing we hear be that Ken Rolston and some others are buying Big Huge Games?

I think that's the last thing which we would hear, unless our ears fell off

Big Huge's Ken Rolston, Mark Nelson, Martin Stoltz, and Michael Dawe are all scheduled as presenters at next week's Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. I imagine this might put a damper on that.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
1. They only wanted licenses and trade marks and IP.

BHG don't own the trademarks for their previous games, as with most dev houses the publishers (ie MS for RoL/ RoN) do.

Originally Posted by Gorath
You're seeing conspiracies everywhere.

How about the most simple answer:
Due to the economic situation THQ is so fucked that they need to cut costs now?

Exactly. A lot of the mid-tier publishers are really struggling to stay alive (like THQ here or Midway and Atari to name a couple more). There is a reason why EA has grown so big or why Vivendi (incl. Blizzard) and Activision have merged. It's called survival of the fittest.
And before anyone points out that I'm full of shit because EA has made a big loss in the last year, please be aware that EA only made those losses because of its acquisitions (like the big BioWare one). If you factor out the acquisitions, EA is actually operating at a profit.

Well, I said it was just thoughts …

But these economical reasons sound most reasonable to me, so to say.