THQ

THQ was founded in 1989 as Toy Headquarters, initially a maker of toys and toy-related electronic games, which is where the initials originated. It soon pivoted fully into video game publishing and spent the 1990s and 2000s growing into one of the largest independent publishers in the world, built substantially on licensed games, children's franchises, and, crucially, wrestling.

For years, THQ held the coveted WWE license, and its WWE (and earlier WWF) wrestling games were reliable bestsellers. It also published a steady stream of licensed titles based on Pixar films, Nickelodeon shows, and other properties. As it matured, THQ increasingly backed original, ambitious games and talented studios. It published Relic Entertainment's acclaimed Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War strategy games, Volition's open-world crime series Saints Row, Vigil Games' stylish action-adventure Darksiders, the charming de Blob, and the tense survival game Metro 2033 from 4A Games.

At its height THQ seemed poised to join the top tier of publishers. But a series of costly missteps eroded its finances, most infamously the uDraw GameTablet, a drawing peripheral that sold disastrously on newer consoles and left the company with enormous unsold inventory and losses. Combined with expensive development, a shifting market, and mounting debt, the damage proved fatal.

In late 2012 THQ filed for bankruptcy, and in early 2013 its studios and franchises were sold off piecemeal at auction. The buyers read like a map of the modern industry: Sega took Relic, Koch Media's Deep Silver took Saints Row and Metro, Ubisoft took several teams and projects, and other properties dispersed. The THQ name itself was later revived by an unrelated European company, THQ Nordic, which has resurrected several old franchises. But the original THQ, the toy-company-turned-publishing-giant, was gone by 2013, dismantled and distributed across its rivals.