THQ

THQ
Used between 2011 - 2013 Used between 2000 - 2011
Information
Founded	1990
Current State	Declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Headquarters	Agoura Hills, California, USA 🇺🇸
Type	Publisher
Worked On
Website	THQ Nordic's website

THQ was a video game publisher founded in 1990 by Jack Friedman, and started releasing games in 1991. They were well-known for publishing a large variety of titles, from original IPs to a large number of licensed WWE, Nickelodeon and Pixar games among other licenses. They have also published games developed by a variety of well-known developers, including Heavy Iron Studios, Pandemic Studios, WayForward and Rare to name a few. Drawn to Life's original studio, 5th Cell, was among them as early as 2003, with THQ later publishing the series for a time. They were behind publishing Drawn to Life, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Wii), and Drawn to Life Collection. A subsidiary of THQ, PlayTHQ, also published the Altron-developed Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition.

In 2012, due to declining sales and the failure of their uDraw GameTablet, THQ declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the Drawn to Life Series was sold to 505 Games in April 2013 for $300,000. Almost all their remaining IPs have been acquired by the Austrian studio Nordic Games, who later acquired the THQ name itself and renamed themselves to THQ Nordic.

Notable Games

• Quest 64 (Published in North America Only, Developed by Imagineer, N64, 1998)
• Rugrats: Search for Reptar (Developed by n-Space in association with Nickelodeon, PS1, 1998)
• WWF WrestleMania 2000 (Developed by AKI Corporation (N64) & Natsume (GBC) in association with WWF, 2000)
• WWF Royal Rumble (Developed by Yuke's in association with WWF, Sega Dreamcast, 2000)
• The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror (Developed by Software Creations in association with Fox Interactive, GBC, 2001)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Legend of the Lost Spatula (Developed by Vicarious Visions in association with Nickelodeon, GBC, 2001)
• Red Faction (Developed by Volition, PS2/Windows/Mac, 2001)
• Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage (Developed by H2O Entertainment, N64, 2001)
• Earthworm Jim (Developed by Game Titan, GBA, 2001)
• Sonic Advance (Published in North America Only, developed by Sonic Team & Dimps in association with Sega, GBA, 2001)
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (Developed by AWE Games (PC), BigSky Interactive (PS2/GCN) & Human Soft (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2001)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge (Developed by Climax in association with Nickelodeon, PS1/GBA, 2001)
• Conker's Bad Fur Day (Published in Europe Only, Developed by Rare, N64, 2001)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman (Developed by BigSky Interactive (PS2/GCN) & Vicarious Visions (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2002)
• Hey Arnold!: The Movie (Developed by Altron in association with Nickelodeon, GBA, 2002)
• Sonic Advance 2 (Published in North America Only, developed by Sonic Team & Dimps, GBA, 2002)
• Finding Nemo (Developed by Traveller's Tales (PS2/GCN/Xbox) & Vicarious Visions (GBA) in association with Pixar, 2003)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (GCN/PS2/Xbox) & Vicarious Visions (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2003)
• Mini Poccha (Developed by 5th Cell, Java, 2003)
• Tak and the Power of Juju (Developed by Avalanche Software (PS2/GCN) & Helixe (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2003)
• Seal Team 6 (Developed by 5th Cell, Java, 2003)
• Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (Developed by Rare, GBA, 2003)
• Siege (Developed by 5th Cell, Java, 2003)
• The Simpsons: Road Rage (Developed by Altron in association with Fox Interactive, GBA, 2003)
• Sonic Battle (Published in North America & Europe, Developed by Sonic Team in association with Sega, GBA, 2003)
• WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain (Developed by Yuke's in association with WWE, PS2, 2003)
• Jet Set Radio (Published in North America Only, Developed by Vicarious Visions in association with Sega, GBA, 2003)
• Full Spectrum Warrior (Developed by Pandemic Studios (Windows/Xbox), Mass Media Games (PS2) & 5th Cell (Java), 2003/2006 (Java))
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (GCN/PS2/Xbox) & WayForward (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2004)
• Sabre Wulf (Developed by Rare, GBA, 2004)
• Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy (Developed by Altron in association with Nickelodeon, GBA, 2004)
• Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams (Developed by Avalanche Software (PS2/GCN) & Helixe (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2004)
• The Incredibles (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (GCN/PS2/Xbox) & Helixe (GBA) in association with Pixar, 2004)
• Sonic Advance 3 (Published in North America & Europe, developed by Sonic Team & Dimps in association with Sega, GBA, 2004)
• It's Mr. Pants (Developed by Rare, GBA, 2004)
• Banjo-Pilot (Developed by Rare, GBA, 2005)
• Juiced (Developed by Juice Games, PS2/Windows/Xbox, 2005)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! (Developed by THQ Studio Australia (GCN/PS2/Xbox) & WayForward (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2005)
• Tak: The Great Juju Challenge (Developed by Avalanche Software (PS2/GCN), Altron (DS) & WayForward (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2005)
• Destroy All Humans! (Developed by Pandemic Studios, 2005)
• Nicktoons Unite! (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment (PS2/GCN) & Climax (GBA/DS) in association with Nickelodeon, 2005)
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab (Developed by Blitz Games (Wii/GCN/PS2) & WayForward (GBA/DS) in association with Nickelodeon, 2006)
• Destroy All Humans! 2 (Developed by Pandemic Studios, 2006)
• Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment (PS2/GCN), Natsume (DS) & Halfbrick Studios (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2006)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (Developed by THQ Studio Australia (PS2/Xbox/GCN/Wii/Windows), TOSE (PSP, DS) & Halfbrick Studios (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2006)
• Cars (Developed by Rainbow Studios (PS2/GCN/Xbox/Xbox 360), Beenox (Windows), Helixe (GBA/DS) Locomotive Games (PSP) & Incinerator Studios (Wii) in association with Pixar, 2006)
• Saints Row (Developed by Volition, 2006)
• Drawn to Life (Developed by 5th Cell, 2007)
• SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis (Developed by Blitz Games (Wii/PS2) and Altron (DS/GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2007)
• Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment (PS2/GCN), Natsume (DS) & Firemint (GBA) in association with Nickelodeon, 2007)
• Conan (Developed by Nihilistic Software, PS3/Xbox 360, 2007)
• El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment (PS2) & Barking Lizards Technologies (DS) in association with Nickelodeon, 2007)
• Ratatouille (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (PS3/Xbox 360), Asobo Studio (PS2/Xbox/GC/Wii/PC/Mac), Helixe (GBA/DS) & Locomotive Games (PSP) in association with Pixar, 2007)
• Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition (Developed by Altron in association with Nickelodeon, 2008)
• Lock's Quest (DS) (Developed by 5th Cell, 2008)
• Saints Row 2 (Developed by Volition, 2008)
• WALL-E (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii), Asobo Studio (PS2/PSP/Windows), Savage Entertainment (SPS) & Helixe (DS) in association with Pixar, 2008)
• Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (Developed by Rare, DS, 2008)
• De Blob (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment, Wii, 2008)
• Tak and the Guardians of Gross (Developed by Blitz Games in association with Nickelodeon, PS2/Wii, 2008)
• Tak: Mojo Mistake (Developed by Altron in association with Nickelodeon, DS, 2008)
• SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom (Develoepd by Incinerator Studios (PS2/Wii) & Natsume (DS) in association with Nickelodeon, 2008)
• Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Developed by 5th Cell, 2009)
• Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter (Wii) (Developed by Planet Moon Studios, 2009)
• SpongeBob's Truth or Square (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (Xbox 360/Wii), Barking Lizards Technologies (PSP) & Altron (DS) in association with Nickelodeon, 2009)
• Up (Developed by Heavy Iron Studios (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii), Asobo Studio (PS2/PSP/Windows/Mac) & Altron (DS) in association with Pixar, 2009)
• Drawn to Life Collection (Developed by 5th Cell, 2010)
• Costume Quest (Published until 2013, Developed by Double Fine Productions, PS3/Xbox 360, 2010)
• Darksiders (Developed by Vigil Games, 2010)
• uDraw Pictionary (Developed by Page 44 Studios, 2010)
• uDraw Studio (Developed by Pipeworks Studio, 2010)
• SpongeBob SquigglePants (Developed by WayForward in association with Nickelodeon, 2011)
• De Blob 2 (Developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment (Wii/PS3/Xbox 360) & Halfbrick Studios (DS), 2011)
• Saints Row: The Third (Developed by Volition, 2011)
• Homefront (Developed by Kaos Studios, 2011)
• Darksiders II (Developed by Vigil Games, 2012)
• WWE '13 (Developed by Yuke's in association with WWE, 2013)
• The Avengers (Developed by THQ Studio Australia & Blue Tongue Entertainment in association with Marvel, cancelled)

Trivia

• THQ is the company most involved with the entire Drawn to Life Series, publishing five out of the seven games.