But your lovin' don't pay my bills

THQ is no more.  It has gone the way of Acclaim, SSI, and the Dodo.  Yesterday, their assets (primarily IP's and studios) were sold off to the highest bidders.  THQ has provided some of my favorite franchises over the years, and although I question some of their missteps (Games for Windows Live AND Steam required to play Dawn of War 2?), it's still too bad when a company that has been publishing games as long as they have shuts down.  As a fan of the industry, I just thought I'd offer my take on the new owners and my hopes and fears for various franchises.

SEGA:  I am an old school SEGA fanboy.  Their acquisition of Relic was a brilliant move, and will help cement their hold on RTS gaming outside of anything with Craft in the title.  SEGA's Total War series is huge, and with the buzz about them working on a Warhammer Fantasy game, it makes perfect sense for them to acquire the company that has put out some of the best Warhammer 40k titles in the last decade.  I'm indifferent to Company of Heroes.  I understand it's a solid game, I'm just not into WW2 games.

Ubisoft:  I do not like Ubisoft.  Between their draconian DRM setups, their half-assed console ports to the PC, and their desire to over monetize games with excessive amounts of DLC, their acquisition of the South Park game has moved it from my "OMG MUST HAVE!" list to my "Meh, if I find it cheap for the console." list.

Deep Silver:  I know less about this company then I care to admit, but I am aware that they are a major Euro distributor, and overall they seem to nurture smaller studios whenever they can.  Their acquisition of Volition has me hopeful for the future of both the Saint's Row and Red Faction franchises, and I'm sure Metro will be treated with all the due respect it deserves coming from them.  But then, I could be misinformed.  It does happen.

The only bit of news that hasn't been confirmed as of this writing is the future of the WWE license.  THQ has been putting out WWE titles for the better part of 20 years.  Although no longer a fan of WWE, I would be remiss as a gamer to ignore that it is still a reasonable successful brand, and the annual game is usually a good seller.  I am disappointed that Vigil wasn't acquired by anyone, as Darksiders is a genuinely fun game, and my understanding was that it was a reasonably successful franchise.

Bet you thought all I did was rant.