On Wednesday in a sad chapter 11 bankruptcy move by THQ, the troubled games publisher sold its Homefront IP (franchise) to Crysis developer Crytek for a mere $500,000 USD. On a whole, THQ generated around $72 million USD from the sale of its many IPs, licenses and wholly owned studios that will be applied to its current debt.
News of Crytek taking the reigns on the Homefront IP isn't surprising given that the studio was working with THQ to produce a sequel to the 2011 first-person shooter developed by Kaos Studios. Crytek placed the highest bid during the auction to secure the rights, and now plans to take the Homefront IP to new heights.
"Since we first reached an agreement to develop Homefront 2, we’ve been firm believers in the IP and its potential to excite and amaze players," said Crytek CEO, Cevat Yerli. "Our cooperation with THQ was always positive and we would like to thank them for all their support over the last two years and express our sympathy to those affected by the recent events at the company."
Development on Homefront 2 will continue on at Crytek's UK studio in Nottingham, the company said. The original Homefront was released on March 15, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. The game has a Metacritic score of 70 across all three platforms, with GameSpy saying the game "reveals just how badly many first-person shooters are starting to suck," and FiringSquad saying it "generally plays like your standard COD clone, only not as exciting or polished."
The mixed reception and poor sales reportedly contributed to Kaos Studios' demise in June 2011. The only other game released by the studio was Frontlines: Fuel of War for the Xbox 360 and Windows PC in 2008. Crytek reportedly agreed to develop the sequel in autumn 2011.
"From day one, the Homefront 2 team has been committed to creating a game that takes the series to new heights and features the level of quality and innovation associated with Crytek," added Nick Button-Brown, General Manager of Games at Crytek. "Nothing has changed with regards our development of the game, and we look forward to sharing the finished product with players."
Here's hoping for a brighter Homefront future.