THQ

Following their bankruptcy filings in late January, game publishers THQ and Atari have recently seen several of their XBLA titles delisted from the Xbox Marketplace. The XBLA games in question can still be found on the Xbox Marketplace, but they can no longer be purchased. A total of four THQ-published XBLA games have been pulled:

  • Apples to Apples — Originally released Dec 7, 2011
  • Screwjumper! — Originally released Dec 10, 2009
  • SpongeBob UnderPants! — Originally released Dec 26, 2007
  • Voltron — Originally released Nov 30, 2011

The same fate has not yet befallen all of the defunct publisher’s Xbox Live Arcade games, though. Costume Quest, Elements of Destruction, Nexuiz, Red Faction: Battlegrounds, Rocket Riot, Stacking and Warhammer 40K: Kill Team are still available for purchase.

Only one Atari game is currently unavailable: Warlords, which was first released on Nov 14, 2012. Yar’s Revenge, which debuted on March 3, 2011, was temporarily taken down but has since burst back onto the scene, albeit at half of its former 800 MSP price tag. Haunted House, another Xbox Live Arcade game published by Atari, is also currently selling at half price (400 MSP). And finally The Undergarden is selling at 240 MSP which is 70% discount of its original price of 800 MSP.

Following months of rocky sales of its products and no shortage of whispers of its imminent demise, the Agoura Hills, California-based THQ had its bankruptcy approved by a judge last month and proceeded to sell off many of its studios and intellectual properties to rival publishers. The company was originally founded in 1990 as a toy manufacturer (Toy Head Quarters).

Just three days prior to THQ’s demise becoming official, the iconic Atari Inc., the U.S. branch of Atari S.A., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It’s been a long, strange journey for the Atari brand, one its U.S. branch hopes it can continue taking as a result of its strategic bankruptcy filing. Atari was founded in 1972 before changing hands an alarming number of times. The current Atari Inc. was once a developer known as GT Interactive before being purchased by the company formerly known as Infogrammes and being rebranded. Infogrammes acquired Atari in 2001 when it purchased Hasbro, which had previously bought Atari in 1998.