It was a dark day for the gaming industry two days ago, as THQ’s ailing financial status resulted in a auction of its assets. Most of its games and production studios were auctioned off, with bidders such as Sega, Ubisoft and Crytek getting pretty good deals for titles and IPs such as “Company of Heroes” and “Homefront”. However, the clear beneficiary in the sale of THQ’s assets appear to be little-known Koch Media, who successfully won bids for the popular “Saints Row” and “Metro” series.

The company, founded back in 1989, initially filed for bankruptcy in late December 2012, after a series of disappointing big-budget games. Some of THQ’s more popular games include the “Saints Row” and “Company of Heroes” franchise, as well as “Darksiders”, “Homefront” and “Metro 2033″, which also has a sequel in the works, to be called “Metro: Last Light”. Its popular “Humble Bundle” pack – where popular THQ titles were sold a steep discounts, with the proceeds going to charity – also gained quite a following.

In the aftermath of the auction, THQ’s CEO Brian Farrell and President Jason Rubin sent an email to all of its employees informing them of the results of the auction, and thanked them for their “imaginative, creative, artistic and highly valued” work. Yesterday, the company held its last meeting.

(Source: Kotaku (1), (2))