THQ bankruptcy auction set for 22 January

As reported over the weekend, today was the big day for further court discussions regarding THQ’s rejected bankruptcy proposal.

According to a series of twitter posts made by the author of the “Distressed Debt Investing” blog from inside today’s hearing, an agreement has now been reached.

There will be an auction for THQ’s assets on 22 January, in which piecemeal bids on a “title by title” basis will be allowed. THQ had hoped to avoid this with its proposal for a swift sale to Clearlake Capital (who, it appeared, intended to keep the assets in one package), but a previous ruling by Judge Mary Walrath that THQ had not allowed rival bidders enough time to prepare counter-offers prevented this from going through.

Now, interested parties will be able to table bids for individual titles (and, one presumes, the in-house THQ studios behind some of those titles). Warner Bros were already known to be an interested party, and today EA has also been confirmed as a possible purchaser of certain titles. Four other buyers are thought to be interested in making bids.

On 22 January, we’ll find out the fate of forthcoming titles like Company of Heroes 2and should learn more about what will happen to employees of studios like Relic and Volition.

Update: The latest indications from THQ are that piecemeal sales will only kick in if the total bids for individual IPs and studios exceeds Clearlake’s initial bid of $60 million USD.