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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 424 | How THQ Died, and How Ubisoft Might, Too
🕑 Added 2024-12-11 17:00:20 +0000 UTCPlease welcome regular LSM contributor Rick Hoeg back to Sacred+. Back in October, Hoeg and I (Colin) met twice here on this very show in order to discuss Ubisoft-related drama, and thanks to newswire Reuters, we now have renewed cause to spark up the chatter. The thing is, Ubisoft's in a lot of trouble: They are bloated, money-poor, and owned by upset shareholders, and once Assassin's Creed: Shadows drops in early '25, there will be nowhere else to hide. Such a situation reminded me of what happened with THQ more than a decade ago, when a once-mighty company rapidly unwound. Unable to hang on long enough to see the release of its promising slate of games, and with its competitors picking from its corpse in the wreckage, THQ soon vanished from the Earth. Will Ubisoft suffer a similar fate? It's unlikely, but the chance is certainly non-zero. So come along with us as we recount what happened to the once-mighty Toy HeadQuarters, which publishers and other entities walked away with its studios and IP, and -- fast-forwarding to Ubisoft's contemporary situation -- how the French publisher's assets might be blowing in the wind as we speak, awaiting a similar fate.
Comments
Andrew Christensen
For Honor is an unapologetically amazing game
Diego Macias
News Hound Jim Reilly mentioned. I was curious what he was up to.
Robbie Agnew
Great show
WhatDarrenPlays
Just as a small correction regarding Relic. Since SEGA purchased them, they had a controversial launch with COH2 due to MTX and took years to stabilize the players. They released Dawn Of War 3 afterward which commercially bombed. They then did a contract job for Microsoft making Age of Empires 4, this was the same time that SEGA rented out Creative Assembly to make Halo Wars 2. While AOE4 did do well, Halo Wars 2 bombed and sold approx 200K units. They cancelled HW3 internally and then opted to make Hyenas instead. Relic rexently released COH3, which also was a commercial failure, though not catastrophic, and has recently undergone layoffs. So to say Sega gets good games out of Relic isnt quite accurate, I wouldnt be surprised if they closed down in 2025, considering more people are playing COH2 than 3, and theyve been struggling to hire for their next project.
Bill Cosby singing Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Noo! I loved Quest 64!
Bill Cosby singing Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Same 😔
Gooch Gobbler
Man I was so hype for that
Gooch Gobbler
NO
Adam Martinez
There’s nothing I skip faster than football talk, lol.
Repede
Would love a football podcast colin
ajwhite
10/10 can confirm being a Vikings fan is painful, but not as bad as being a Jets fan. Sorry Col! SKOL
Bill Cosby singing Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Anyone remember how Guillermo del Toro announced he was working with THQ to develop a survival-horror series? I think about it every now and then. “inSANE” is what it was called.
Ryan
Hoeg nation rise up
Honest Abe
Come on over and join the lions bandwagon Collin. Lifelong lions fan here and these past few seasons has made all those years of pain softened, and if they win the Super Bowl this season I can die happy
Noah Bucchi
I like the football talk. I’m glad Colin sticks with his guns and doesn’t mold his show by what the audience wants all the time. That shows good instincts and confidence, which is an important trait of a talkshow host. Plus, is it so hard to skip forward a few minutes?
Tom Gentry
I love it so much to turn on the pod and listen to football for 10 minutes.
Jay
Happy to hear Colin is rooting for the Lions
Joe B
I guess its just comes down to what you deem success. The NFL has set their measuring stick and ultimate goal to be a Super Bowl, of which MN has none. I would happily trade the 88 extra wins my team over yours to be able to say my team has a championship. I cant go to a Vikings game and see a banner in the stadium, yet our franchises were founded 5 months apart.
Jacob Lesperance
Now that Lina Khan is gone i cannot wait till the consolidation of the games industry is completed by MS and Sony. Truly wonderful.
Seany Mac
To be fair, the only Jets fans still alive with any experience of their superbowl win are actual baby boomers. I doubt harkening back to it does much for most fans today
Colin Moriarty
The Vikings have an overall record of 523-435-11, made the playoffs more than 30 times, and have played in 52 playoff games, including four Super Bowls, all of which since the Jets won. The Jets have an overall record of 431-557-8, made the playoffs 14 times (12 times since winning the Super Bowl 55 years ago), and have played in 25 playoff games, including one Super Bowl. The Vikings have literally made the playoffs five times since the Jets were in, and have played seven playoff games. You have to understand: Many living Jets fans have barely seen their team even better than average on more than a few occasions. It's not even comparable, sorry. -Colin
Yo mamas so fat I had to rent a server farm just download a picture and I still didnt have enough space!!
I don’t care about foosball talk but I don’t mind the exposure.
Joe B
Your franchise has a ring and the only reason their always bad is because their owner is an idiot. Thats not bad luck or a curse, thats a single problem that never is dealt with. The Vikings have existed for 64 years and not 1 fan who has ever watched them can say they saw a super bowl victory, and their last appearence came 8 years after the Jets won one.
Colin Moriarty
Completely absurd take. -Colin
Michael Mashpotato
It’s hard to believe Ubisoft at one point made a great game like Child of Light. A very easy turn based game but was very enjoyable and had an amazing original soundtrack. Roger Clemens baseball is a lot of fun. Me and my best friend played the shit out of that game as soon as 10 years ago. We smoked blunts and played that and Kings of the Beach whenever we would hang out. We did that for a few months lol. Good times.
Joe B
Theres far more teams worse off than the Jets. Vikings and Bills have been to 4 Super Bowls and won none, and in MN case they havent been there in over 40 years and are a top 10 win percentage franchise for all NFL teams. The other 9 all have championships.
Daddy T
I’ll be the first to say it, shut up about the football lmao
Kelzilla
Interesting topic, can’t wait to listen!
Damien Groome
Thank you for another podcast Colin!
