inc. the current thq logo which ran from 2011 to its defunct date . the copyright belongs to thq nordic . formerly called toy head quarters former type public traded as otc pink thqiq 2012 2013 nasdaq thqi 1991 2012 industry video game industry interactive entertainment fate chapter 11 bankruptcy successor thq nordic founded 1989 ; 27 years ago 1989 as trinity acquisition corporation 1 new york u.s. defunct january 23 2013 ; 3 years ago 2013 01 23 headquarters agoura hills california u.s. area served worldwide key people brian j. farrell chairman ceo jason rubin president 2 products list of thq products saints row series sold to koch media darksiders series sold to thq nordic company of heroes series sold to sega wwe series sold to take two interactive and 2k sports homefront series sold to crytek ; now to deep silver destroy all humans series sold to thq nordic warhammer 40 000 series sold to sega red faction series sold to thq nordic mx vs. atv series sold to thq nordic south park the stick of truth sold to ubisoft revenue 665 million 2011 3 net income 136 million 2011 3 parent thq nordic website www.thq.com thq was an american video game developer and publisher . founded in 1989 the company developed products for home video game consoles and handhelds personal computers and mobile devices . its name derived from toy head quarters during its time as a toy manufacturer in the early 1990s . 1 thq had offices in north america europe and the asia pacific region . the company published both internally created and externally licensed content in its product portfolio . thq s internally created games included the saints row red faction mx vs. atv company of heroes and dawn of war series among others . the company also held exclusive long term licensing agreements with leading sports and entertainment content creators such as wwe nickelodeon disney and pixar . after years of financial struggles stock value drop and debt thq declared chapter 11 bankruptcy in december 2012 and began liquidation of its assets the following month with several properties either being acquired or auctioned to other developers . in addition most of the remaining staff were laid off . 4 in 2014 the thq trademark was acquired by nordic games which had acquired some of thq s properties in the auction . it renamed itself thq nordic in august 2016 . contents 1 history 1.1 trinity acquisition corporation and founding 1989 1999 1.2 company growth new logo acquisitions 2000 2009 1.3 reorganization financial struggles 2010 2012 1.4 bankruptcy and liquidation thq nordic 2012 present 2 subsidiaries 2.1 divisions 2.2 former 2.3 sold 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit trinity acquisition corporation and founding 1989 1999 edit thq s logo from 1997 to 2000 in 1989 trinity acquisition corporation was founded in new york as a shell corporation to raise money for a future venture in an unspecified field of activity . 5 one year later in april 1990 former ljn co founder jack friedman established the toy company thq inc. in calabasas california with a personal investment of 1 million . 6 thq was an abbreviation for toy head quarters . 5 thq acquired br derbund s video game division in september 1990 and released its first video game peter pan and the pirates in january 1991 . 7 8 though always formally called thq the company typically traded as t hq in video games box arts and instruction manuals . 7 in 1991 thq agreed to be acquired by trinity acquisition corp. in a stock swap valued at about 33 million with thq s shareholders owning 51.7 % of the new entity . 9 thq s name was retained for the new company and friedman was named as its president . 5 6 thq then acquired video game developer black pearl software of chicago in 1993 . 10 thq withdrew completely from the toy business in 1994 to focus solely on video game production . in addition the company dropped the from its label . 1 jack friedman then left the company in 1995 to co found the toy manufacturer jakks pacific . 11 in 1997 thq was reincorporated as a delaware corporation 1 and acquired san diego video game developer pacific coast power & light . 12 company growth new logo acquisitions 2000 2009 edit thq s logo from 2000 to 2011 in 2000 thq introduced a new slanted logo for the new millennium which it would use for the next eleven years . in february of that year thq faced a class action lawsuit over federal securities laws violation due to nondisclosure of material information . 13 in september of the same year the company expanded its internal product development capabilities with the acquisition of volition inc. located in champaign illinois . since then thq s internal studio system grew to eleven studios across the globe with distinct capabilities across all viable gaming platforms . examples of these studios are relic entertainment vigil games blue tongue entertainment juice games kaos studios and volition inc. who worked on games for next generation consoles as well as pcs . thq went on to acquire vigil games in 2006 . 14 on may 10 2007 thq reported its highest annual sales figures and net profits ever for the fiscal year which ended on march 31 . thq s revenues reached over 1 billion . in march 2008 thq announced the development of the world s first ever cheerleading game using the wii balance board . 15 16 not long after on november 3 2008 the company closed five of its internal studios paradigm entertainment mass media inc. helixe locomotive games and sandblast games . 17 18 in 2009 huge declines in sales prompted thq to form a strategic plan to cut 220 million in annual costs by 2010 and invest in fewer better bets . previously in 2007 thq had a 68 million profit and 1 billion in revenue which put it within range of their rival activision . many of its big budget games sold poorly despite having favorable reviews as the recession hit . its hold on kids games based on nickelodeon tv shows and pixar movies slipped as kids turned to free online games playable on the internet . with shares down 86 % from the previous year and a market value of only 173 million thq had the possibility of being acquired by other companies . 19 in march 2009 thq spun off heavy iron studios and incinerator studios as independent companies and announced it was looking to sell big huge games . two months later in may 2009 thq agreed to sell big huge games to 38 studios . in august 2009 thq acquired midway studios san diego for 200 000 . the sale of the studio included all assets except for the tna impact video game . 20 reorganization financial struggles 2010 2012 edit in february 2010 thq announced that juice games and rainbow studios would be part of a reshuffle and would now bear the title thq digital warrington and thq digital phoenix respectively . it is said that 60 members of staff face redundancies between thq s us rainbow studio and the uk juice game s studio . 21 in august 2010 thq unveiled the udraw gametablet a 70 accessory for nintendo s wii console that lets gamers draw and play on their television screens . the white 9 by 7 inch peripheral houses a wii remote on the left with a doodle pad and tethered stylus on the right . thq said more software for the udraw would launch every couple of months . 22 in january 2011 thq sold off its wireless division to a swedish mobile company called 24mas . 23 on january 12 2011 thq unveiled its new logo . 24 in march 2011 thq after its game homefront was released suffered a 26 % stock drop . the large drop was speculated to be a result of homefront s poor reception . 25 on june 13 2011 thq announced the closure of kaos studios the developer of homefront 26 and thq digital warrington formerly juice games . 27 on july 27 2011 thq announced it was dropping the long running red faction franchise . this was believed to be due to the poor reception over the latest game in the franchise red faction armageddon . 28 in the same year on august 9 2011 thq announced it would shift its development focus away from licensed kids and movie based titles by closing down thq studio australia and blue tongue in order to focus on high quality owned ip . the company also closed down thq digital phoenix formerly rainbow studios thus dropping the mx vs. atv franchise . 29 30 31 in november 2011 a udraw for the playstation 3 and xbox 360 was released . 32 however it was a commercial failure 33 and is considered one of the main causes of the financial woes that broke up the company . 34 35 in february 2012 thq discontinued the udraw gametablet to focus on adult core gaming . 36 in may 2012 thq reported a net loss of 239.9 million for the fiscal year ending march 31 2012 . the loss was 100 million more than the previous fiscal year s loss of 136.1 million . 37 thq filed a notice with the sec on may 25 for a june 29 stockholder s meeting where thq asked stockholders to approve a reverse split of the company s common stock . 38 on june 4 2012 thq announced a deal to turn over their license for ufc games to electronic arts . 39 in july 2012 thq reported that its stockholders had approved the 1 for 10 reverse share split of its common stock to avert a delisting from the nasdaq . 40 bankruptcy and liquidation thq nordic 2012 present edit on november 13 2012 thq reported that they had defaulted on a 50 million loan from wells fargo and were on the verge of bankruptcy . with its stock price plummeting from early november values bordering on 3 down to 1.16 and with long term liabilities of 250 million thq was forced to delay the release dates of its flagship titles company of heroes 2 and metro last light to march 2013 . 41 on november 29 2012 thq partnered with humble bundle to launch the humble thq bundle in an effort to raise more money . 42 by december 12 2012 thq sold nearly 800 000 bundles raising around 5 million ; 43 thq president jason rubin also made a purchase spending 11 050 on the bundle . 44 on december 19 2012 just days after the humble thq bundle ended thq filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy with the intention of selling thq and all of its assets to clearlake capital group with centerview partners handling the sale . 45 46 47 skip paul a former colleague of jason rubin helped orchestrate the proposed stalking horse bid from clearlake capital group . 48 however the bid was ultimately denied by judge mary f. walrath and creditors instead approved an individual auction of thq s properties which went ahead on january 22 2013 . 49 50 at the auction the homefront franchise was acquired by crytek and was later acquired by koch media 51 relic entertainment and the video game rights to the warhammer 40 000 series were sold to sega and the publishing rights to turtle rock studios evolve and the wwe series were acquired by take two interactive . ubisoft acquired thq montreal and the publishing rights to south park the stick of truth while the publishing rights to the metro franchise and volition inc. were acquired by koch media . vigil games and thq s publishing unit were still included in the chapter