all DLC that is created in addition to the game's base content and preferably after the game's release is OK, IMO. pricing may be an issue but with promos and Steam deals you can get most DLC almost for free...

that was the game with the new THQ business model, right? shipping a barebones game at a reduced price, with abundant PDLC available to tailor the game to yourself.

i knew this wouldn't work.

While the idea of tailoring a game to your desires sounds nice, unless of course it means taking away the ability to create and install mods, the value proposition for piecemeal content trends downwards most of the time.

Another reason DLC, especially the pre-planned kind, can go wrong is the example we have here at GOG with expansion packs being licensed separately from the game. Things like region restricted DLC are particularly frustrating.

Steam seems to be a rare haven for DLC, but even there you can witness its intrinsic issues. How often can you demo DLC, for example? As a bit of an aside, it's digitally exclusive nature is a big part of the problem. For example, if Steam has a deal on a four-pack of games, you can only take advantage of this deal if you haven't already bought the game for yourself. It suddenly becomes an issue of "can I play the game for myself first, to verify its value, or should I wait, so that I can actually take advantage of the deal?". Adjacent to that, is that the four-pack doesn't include DLC, so the other players you buy it for may be segregated if the DLC is not co-opted.

It did scare me off, at least ;)
Well, I'm not 100% sure I'd have bought it otherwise, but I thought about it because it seemed like a nice deal (last weekend). Then I noticed the long list of DLC and thought "Ah no, that's bullshit, I'll play something else..."

Sorry to bump and old topic but it seemed relevant:

THQ files for Bankruptcy Protection, stock trading halted

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2012/12/19/thqi-halted-for-news/?mod=yahoobarrons

So it seems the Humble Bundle didn't help at all.

I'm sure humble bundle helped some, but their problems were just too deep for the last ditch effort to pull them out.

Damn shame too.

Edit: So uh, are people pre-ordering THQ games safe to do so or should they go get their money back?

Im not surprized the Humble bundle didnt stop this, It may have helped them very slightly but offering a bunch of games for $5 and some change (the BTA, not the minority whom paid a decent amount) cant do much, it was a drop in the ocean of what they needed from what i recall reading

I'm not sure anyone even can get their money back if they have filed for bankruptcy already but I would try right now if I had preordered anything. Who knows what will happen to any projects in progress, if somebody might buy them up or not, etc.

This is sad news. I am sorry to see this. :(

CD Project! Buy them!

So if THQ dies, what happens to the IP's they own? THQ has made/published some awesome games...

These guys bought everything.

They've already been purchased.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/thq-inc-secures-asset-purchase-agreement-with-affiliates-of-clearlake-capital-group-lp-2012-12-19

The games business seems to be a little like the English Premiere League in that the barrier to entry is almost too high to be able to trade whilst staying in the black these days.

Have there been many successful titles that were funded by a sensible budget? Is this even the cause? or is it CEOs creaming too much from the top perhaps?

My understanding was that that is only a first bid.

Is that so? In that case, they must take it because otherwise they are fucked.

That was what I got out of your first link to that forum. It wasn't all that spelled out so I'm not 100% I understood it right.

Edit: "
Clearlake has agreed to serve as the “stalking horse bidder” for a Section 363 sale process, which allows other interested parties to come forward with competing bids. Aggregate consideration offered by Clearlake for the purchase totals approximately $60 million, including a new $10 million note for the benefit of the company's creditors. The company is asking the Court for a schedule to complete the sale process in about 30 days.
"