THQ hands Devil’s Third back to Itagaki, Valhalla

This has not been a good year for THQ, with the company now revealing it has returned action title Devil's Third. All intellectual property and rights to the game have been handed back to Valhalla, the studio run by Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itagaki.

The public statement from THQ is short and to-the-point:

THQ confirms that the company will not be publishing Devil's Third. All of the game's IP rights have been returned to Itagaki-san and the Valhalla team.

While disappointing, the news is not necessarily surprising - back in May, Devil's Third was unceremoniously dropped in a week which also saw South Park: The Stick of Truth delayed into 2013. Earlier in the year, the company also slashed jobs after rebranding its Warhammer MMO as a single-player release, following the company's net loss of $55.9 million in the quarter ending December 31, 2011.

THQ reportedly made several attempts to find a new publisher for Devil's Third, but today's revelation proves that was unsuccessful. At this stage, specific terms of the Valhalla deal have not been released, and no new publisher has been announced for Devil's Third, which is reportedly in the last stages of development.

2 Responses to “THQ hands Devil’s Third back to Itagaki, Valhalla”

1. Devil’s Third dev pairs up with Doobic « Player Attack says:

   July 22, 2012 at 9:11 pm

   [...] thanks to a deal signed with Doobic, developer of Combat Arms. Earlier this month, THQ symbolically handed the IP back to Tomonobu Itagaki and Valhalla Studios, amid the ailing publisher's concerns about [...]

   Reply
2. inSANE cancelled, THQ focusses on core games « Player Attack says:

   August 6, 2012 at 8:18 pm

   [...] to Tomonobu Itagaki and Valhalla Game Studios, whose in-development Devil's Third was also recently dropped by the struggling [...]

   Reply

Article Details

• published: July 4th, 2012
• by: Jessica Citizen
• in: !Ninja Gaiden, !Valhalla Game Studios, Company: THQ, Game: Devil's Third, Game: South Park: The Stick of Truth, Tomonobu Itagaki
• comments: 2

Author Bio:

I like video games, fishing, Depeche Mode, long walks on the beach, writing discussion papers and cups of tea. Not necessarily in that order.

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