It has been confirmed that Take-Two will be taking over the WWE series of games after the dissolution of THQ. While we heard the news from IGN – which printed the story based on the word of “sources” before the details had been finalised – three weeks ago, Bloomberg has official confirmation from court documents that make the agreement explicit.
According to the documents, the deal is a lifesaver for THQ, as otherwise the claims WWE and Yuke's plan to file against the company would have been far larger. According to the lawyers, had no one agreed to help THQ out with the WWE games then the company would have faced claims that “would certainly exceed $30 million and might exceed $60”, but that since this agreement means Take-Two and THQ “have minimized the harm to WWE and Yuke's”, the latter two “have, in turn, agreed to substantial reductions of their claims”.
So how does this all work going forward? The contracts between WWE and Yuke's and THQ will be terminated, so that new contracts can be formed with Take-Two. THQ will pay WWE $650,000 in royalty payments, but will not have to pay the $45 million in pre-bankruptcy claims or any annual royalty advances for the contract that was supposed to remain in place until 2017.
On the less financial and more human side of things, the best news to come out of all of this is that Take-Two will hire the employees from THQ who work on the WWE series of games, so those who probably thought they were out of a job can rest easy again.
