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Double Fine, Codemasters, former president Rubin, more seeking payment from THQ
THQ may be no more, but several parties have filed claims against the defunct video game publisher. The Kurtzman Carson Consultancy group shows Double Fine, Codemasters and even individual former executives Jason Kay and Jason Rubin are seeking financial compensation for unpaid obligations from THQDouble Fine (PDF link) is looking for $595,000, claiming THQ offered up Stacking and Costume Quest as free PlayStation Plus downloads without Double Fine's knowledge, and that none of the PS Plus revenue was shared. Codemasters (PDF link) is looking for an exact $1,002,714.25, seeking reimbursement for unpaid royalties and storing quantities of Bodycount, Dirt 3 and F1 2011 discs in a warehouse somewhere. Kay (PDF link) and Rubin (PDF link) are seeking $2.1 million each for failed "employment obligations." The two claim unpaid vacation time, sick leave and severance.THQ's final assets were auctioned off for nearly $7 million earlier this week, including Darksiders, Homeworld and the Drawn to Life series. The results of the first auction were posted in January, facilitating the transfer of ownership for Saints Row 4, Homefront, Company of Heroes 2 and more.
THQ formally drops Farrell, Rubin, executive staff
THQ's storybook is down to the final pages, following the rising action of its dropping stock, and the climax of its bankruptcy at the end of 2012 and asset sale in January. Now for the falling action: THQ formally terminated CEO Brian Farrell, President Jason Rubin and Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kay on January 30, made public in an 8-K form filed today.Earlier in February, Rubin said that THQ's failure was its own fault, and it boiled down to missteps with franchises such as uDraw, the Warhammer 40K MMO and Homefront. "THQ had every chance to survive, had it not made massive mistakes," he said.THQ's epilogue is up next, wherein we find out what all these new companies will do with its former properties.
Rubin: THQ could have survived, but made 'massive mistakes'
We know pretty much all there is to know about the dissolution of THQ, how its valuable studios and properties were sold off, while others were left to fend for themselves. We're pretty well versed on why it all happened. Now, former THQ president Jason Rubin has given MCV his opinion on why the publisher went south.Rubin refuted the notion that THQ was simply a victim of a changing industry, that it was unable to keep up with bigger publishers. "THQ had every chance to survive," he said, "had it not made massive mistakes." Said mistakes – things like bungling uDraw, the Warhammer 40K MMO and Homefront – didn't happen on Rubin's watch, however, as he was only appointed in May of 2012. Ultimately, there was "too much negative hanging on [THQ's] books," he said.THQ's failure didn't boil down to bad luck either. "Could Homefront have caught a nerve and sold 10m copies? It's possible I guess, but probably not without better production," he said, adding that luck certainly wasn't a factor in THQ's decision to cancel Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online. "That was simply a bad decision in a sea of bad decisions."
Rubin: Vigil's new IP meant 'even more risk' for potential buyers
Despite many of its major brands and studios being snatched up during this week's auction, several of THQ's intellectual properties remain unclaimed, their respective studios dissolving as a result. Among those unclaimed properties is the Darksiders franchise, which failed to garner any bids during the auction proceedings."Having just finished a product, Vigil was farthest from release of their next game," THQ president Jason Rubin told Game Informer. "We were not able to garner any interest from buyers, despite a herculean effort. Additionally, they were working on a new IP, which meant even more risk for a buyer."Vigil's new IP, codenamed Crawler, was a show-stopper by all internal accounts: "When the teams got together recently to show each other their titles, Crawler dropped the most jaws," Rubin said. "It is a fantastic idea, and truly unique. The fact that nobody bid for the team and title is a travesty. It makes no sense to me."Darksiders will be sold (along with THQ's other remaining properties) in the coming weeks, though what that process entails remains unknown.
Important member of THQ family says goodbye (Rubin also pictured)
He came.He saw it sold off in pieces.He exited through the gift shop."Not leaving @THQ without my personal effects. For the record, still #notembarrased," former THQ president Jason Rubin tweeted, flashing a memorable promo item from Saints Row: The Third.
THQ 'back catalog' to be sold off in 'separate process'
THQ sold off much of its intellectual property, and existing catalog, yesterday in an auction. But what about all the THQ IP that wasn't included, like Darksiders and (why not) uDraw? THQ president Jason Rubin told Game Informer that other sales of legacy holdings will be forthcoming."There will be a separate process to sell off the back catalog and IP," Rubin said. "That process will take place in the coming weeks." Rubin did not say what form the "process" would take, whether it will involve private individual deals or further auctioning.
THQ considering Linux and other platforms after Humble Bundle success
After the THQ bundle recently brought in over $5 million (split between THQ, charity donations, and "tips" to the bundle's organizers), the company's president Jason Rubin admits that he's looking at possible markets differently lately. Rubin's Twitter account says he "got the Linux message loud and clear" from the bundle, and he later told Polygon that "the message I took away from a large number of tweets and comments around the THQ Humble Bundle sale is that there are vibrant communities of gamers using other operating systems besides the dominant ones, and a company like THQ should not overlook them."In other words, there's opportunity for THQ in selling computer games outside of the standard Windows ecosystem. Rubin has no plans yet, but he says the analysis has started, and the company is "committed to look at anything that makes sense" in terms of releasing titles on platforms other than simply Windows. In the past, THQ has released Mac versions of its Company of Heroes series through a third-party publisher, but it sounds like Rubin is considering a more widespread solution for cross-platform releases after this feedback. He says THQ should have more to announce soon.
Humble THQ Bundle ends, earns $5 million from 885,000 bundles
The Humble Indie Bundle's first decidedly non-indie bundle, the THQ Bundle, has come to its anticipated end. All told, says the organization, the bundle raised $5 million, split as buyers chose between THQ, charity donations, and the Humble Bundle group itself.The whole project seems to have been a rousing success: 885,251 bundles went out the door, and THQ added a few big games into the pack during the sale. The average price for all titles sold was $5.76, and the top contributor to the cause was THQ's president Jason Rubin, who at the end had contributed a total of $10,000 to the proceedings.In fact, considering THQ's financial battles lately, this might be one of the company's biggest successes this year. Wonder what else they've got over there to bundle up and sell out the door?
Humble THQ Bundle well over $2 million, THQ president is top contributor
In just over 24 hours, the Humble THQ Bundle has brought in $2,386,749.04 (and rapidly counting), proving that any misgivings that some might have had over a non-DRM-free, Windows-only, less indie than usual Humble Bundle were trumped by the desire for cheap games – and charity, of course.The top contributor as of writing is THQ president Jason Rubin, who paid $1,050 for games he certainly could have gotten for free. In third place is Turtle Rock Studios, whose $1024 contribution may just help keep THQ going long enough for Turtle Rock to finish its game.
Guillermo del Toro's 'Insane' franchise also out at THQ
THQ president Jason Rubin just announced that THQ game Insane is no longer in production. "We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo del Toro," Rubin said. It is a project the embattled publisher is no longer pursuing, and was cited alongside Facebook, mobile, and social as "outside of our core business."Director del Toro could take the rights and produce the game elsewhere. He's retained film rights since the project was first announced.Insane was announced during the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, but never showed up during various gaming events across the past two years. Aside from it being a project developed in tandem with film director Guillermo del Toro, little is known. Saints Row developer Volition was working on the first game in the planned trilogy, and is now known to be developing a full sequel to last year's Saints Row: The Third.Update: THQ says the game "was in very early development," and that "no teams/staff are affected by this decision." When asked whether del Toro also retains any code/assets created for the project thus far, we were told, "The rights for the property have been returned to Guillermo for his future use/exploration."
THQ hires Relic co-founder, former EA COO as new Exec. VP of Production
THQ announced this morning that Ron Moravek will return to the homeworld as "Executive Vice President, Production" at the company and will report directly to new president Jason Rubin."Ron is an exceptional development executive with unique perspective on the industry from both a creative and business point of view," Rubin said in the company's announcement. "His entrepreneurial experience as well as his ability to drive dynamic teams is a great fit for our strategic objectives. Additionally, Ron's experience building high-quality products will help us continue to deliver great games and build upon our foundation to innovate digitally in the future."Moravek was previously the co-founder and chief operating officer at Relic Entertainment, before selling the studio to THQ in 2004. He also had a one-year stint as COO of Electronic Arts in Canada.THQ is currently in-process of its latest reimagining, consolidating where possible and trying to keep the ship afloat.
Jason Rubin and Danny Bilson: a tale of two THQs
During Danny Bilson's tenure at Saints Row publisher THQ, the company went from license-dependent (think Nickelodeon) to "Core-focused" (think ... uh, Saints Row). And eventually, the publisher's entire direction turned, from a split between casual/family-focused titles and those of its "Core" division, to one solely focused on that "Core." THQ today is essentially just the "Core" division.When Bilson was fired from THQ and Jason Rubin was appointed president just over a week ago, the publisher's messaging didn't change. "Rubin's appointment comes as THQ realigns its focus from a maker of licensed games for broad audiences to a developer of AAA 'Core' games for multiple platforms," Rubin's appointment PR reads.But Bilson arguably lead THQ's charge into "AAA 'Core' games," pushing for games like Metro 2033, Darksiders, and Saints Row: The Third, and brokering deals with Guillermo del Toro for a three-game survival horror series called "Insane," with Turtle Rock for an unnamed FPS, and Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki for a (since dropped) project called "Devil's Third." Why he was fired remains unknown. "I don't think it's a question for me," THQ president Jason Rubin told us during an E3 2012 interview.
THQ's new head promises no more job cuts, but 'everything is up for change'
For a guy who's only been on the job for a dozen days, newly appointed THQ president Jason Rubin is awfully comfortable answering very specific questions. He probably should be, given his title, but it was impressive nonetheless that he was able to speak with such specificity to nebulous projects like Guillermo del Toro's planned "Insane" trilogy. "Currently it's still in the slate," Rubin told Joystiq in an E3 interview. That doesn't mean the barely detailed project is a sure thing, of course. THQ will be "a different company" in the next year or two, according to Rubin. Will ambitious projects like Insane make the cut?"I'm taking every project as clay, a clay statue that's been built. It's not nearly been completed. It can be augmented, it can be shrunk, it can be changed. Everything is up for change to make the best possible product that could be," Rubin said.With THQ's financial troubles as of late, it's fair to wonder if the trilogy will ever materialize, not to mention Turtle Rock's unnamed FPS project, or THQ Montreal's new IP. "I'm well aware of the other projects that are kind of in what you would call 'nebulous states' (though internally they may not be so nebulous)," Rubin said. "I have to go around and look at everything over the next few weeks, next month, and I have to then decide which of the titles are the titles we're gonna focus on based on what I believe our future should be."Thankfully for THQ's employees (approximately 1,750 as of March 31, 2011), the coming change within the publisher doesn't mean a reckoning. "We have the appropriate number of teams and the appropriate number of people working on products, and we're not gonna be continuing to cut teams," Rubin told us. "But as far as product goes, I think we'll have to find out exactly where that's going."
THQ's new prez stands behind Montreal studio, though 'there may be empty seats'
When THQ announced its Montreal, Canada-based studio in 2009, the plan seemed a bit on the ambitious side. 400 new employees across five years, two big projects – one of which is overseen by ex-Assassin's Creed creative lead Patrice Desilets, the other being a followup to 2011's Homefront – and a brand new campus meant a lot of money needed to be spent, even with a potentially generous tax credit from the Canadian government.And that was long before THQ's recent financial troubles. It's in that context that we asked newly hired president Jason Rubin to address the future of the Montreal location during an E3 interview. "I think the decision needs to be made which projects we can do, what we can afford to do, and stick to it. Even though THQ Montreal's space may be bigger than what we need right now, there's nothing about that space that prevents us from succeeding," Rubin said.We asked Rubin whether THQ could fulfill the planned 400-person contract across five years in its current financial state. "There may be empty seats," he admitted, but he's not worried that those contractual obligations will affect THQ – nor the Montreal location's – long-term survival. "I'm not saying that we wouldn't fulfill our obligations," Rubin told us. "But assuming for a moment that we don't reach whatever our contractual obligations are, there are very specific clauses in the contract that say what would happen. And I've read the contract, I've gone over it, it was one of the things I did before starting. And there's nothing about the contract or our failing under that contract that would cause the company to fail."Rubin stressed that THQ under his leadership remains dedicated to the Montreal studio and its agreement with the government. "I love Montreal. I definitely wanna do right by Montreal, and I definitely wanna fill that studio. But having said that, if we fail to do that for any reason, that's not going to be a cause for failure for the company." He also addressed potential concern that other THQ studios employees could be moved to the Montreal location. "Were I able to pick up and move people without worry about their families, the projects they're working on, and everything else, I would fill that space in a second," Rubin said.Beyond the co-developed Homefront sequel and the unknown Desilets project, it is unclear what else THQ Montreal is working on, if anything.
THQ's new boss outlines the company's path to financial salvation
"For me, this is about the future," newly appointed THQ president Jason Rubin told investors during a conference call this morning. Rubin was outlining his plan for the future of THQ – a plan he hopes will take THQ from an ailing company on the fringe of the publishing world to previously untapped financial greatness. "The industry is about to change. If you look at what's happened in the PC business, if you look at what's happened in some of the other businesses out there, you see that print models and different ways of distributing and publishing games has opened up a significant amount of revenue for other companies," Rubin said.Rubin's message – wherein he partially blamed THQ's financial issues on "big incumbent players" who have a "huge advantage in keeping their top spots," such as EA and Activision – seems particularly strange considering THQ CEO Brian Farrell's repeated assertion that the publisher is focused on "core brands" such as Darksiders and Saints Row. As recently as last week, THQ was espousing its "core games" focus. "THQ realigns its focus from a maker of licensed games for broad audiences to a developer of AAA 'Core' games for multiple platforms," the press release announcing Rubin's appointment reads."Companies in a very short amount of time can go from very small to very large. Zynga's a perfect example of that," Rubin said. "I believe that this business has opportunities that are coming on the near horizon to do something very similar. And I think that the teams that we have are properly positioned and properly sized to take advantage of that opportunity." Rubin further explained his hopes for those business opportunities. "This is about looking at what THQ has, looking at what the business is gonna become in the near future, and making a real concerted attack to get in early on the new business model." What that business model will be remains to be seen. We'll be sure to put that question to Rubin when we speak with him later this week.
THQ's Danny Bilson exits as Jason Rubin takes prez spot
THQ announced this afternoon that former executive vice president of "Core Games" Danny Bilson stepped down from his position in the company, and Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin is taking the position of president. Rubin will report directly to chairman and CEO Brian Farrell.Additionally, senior vice president of Core Studios Dave Davis is exiting the company. Bilson, Davis, and the "Core Games" group at THQ lead the charge in recent years on THQ's rebranding (including the logo you see above) from a licensed-game publisher to one developing and publishing what Bilson and co. considered "core" franchises (Warhammer 40K, Saints Row, and Red Faction among others). The move is especially odd considering THQ's continuing initiative to develop "AAA 'Core' games for multiple platforms."As for Rubin's appointment, that's distinctly less odd – he helped create one of the game industry's most successful development studios. "Jason's proven track record in the industry speaks for itself, and he is one of the brightest minds in the business," Farrell said of Rubin's appointment. As for Bilson, Farrell noted his "significant contributions" and thanked him.
Ex-Naughty Dog founders go casual with Monkey Gods
Back in 1986, Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin had a dream. As childhood friends, they both wished to make games, so in their adult life, they established Naughty Dog in Santa Monica. They made some games for the Sega Genesis and 3DO, but pay dirt didn't arrive until they created Crash Bandicoot and set the whirling dervish loose on the PSOne. When the PS2 came around, the duo thought up another beloved property in the Jak & Daxter series, which we don't have to tell you was a pretty big deal (and still is!). Now, the duo has a new company: Monkey Gods. Its focus is on the PC crowd (mostly the casual players), though there really isn't anything on the site at the moment. The first game to come from Monkey Gods will be Snood for the iPhone, available on the iTunes App store June 1.We've put in word for comment to the two, and will update you all on whatever we hear back just as soon as we receive it.[Via Geoff Keighley's Twitter]
Report: Jason Rubin's Iron and the Maiden sued by ... Iron Maiden [UPDATE]
When former Naughty Dog chief Jason Rubin rolled out of bed this morning, we imagine he had a lot on his mind: What cereal to eat, what paper to read, and, oh yeah, how best to deal with lawyers representing Iron Maiden. According to online rag TMZ, the aging metal band has filed suit against Rubin's comic book company, Iron and the Maiden LLC, for what the site describes as using a "confusingly similar" name. We admit we were befuddled at first too; after all, who knew that Iron Maiden was even still around?Rubin, who has not yet responded to Joystiq's inquiry on the matter, is best recognized in gaming circles as the face behind Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter. Lately, however, his energies have been spent elsewhere after leaving game development in 2004 for social media, comics and the greener pastures of Web 2.0. Still, judging by Iron Maiden's catalog of album covers, we're not sure how any of this could have prepared him for facing down a gang of haggard rockers and what we imagine to be a throng of undead legal counsel. Update: A spokesperson representing both Jason Rubin and his companies, Iron and the Maiden LLC and Morgan Rose LLC, sent over an official response to the lawsuit this evening, calling the whole case "completely without merit." The complete statement can be read after the break.
