THQ has entered a law suit against its partner Jakks Pacific, with which it shares the licensing deal for the World Wrestling Entertainment franchise. The publisher is saying that Jakks has unilaterally extended the WWE licensing deal, which is a breach of the partnership between the two companies.
Jakks Pacific has notified World Wrestling Entertainment that it plans to extend the current contract, which runs out on December 31, 2009 until the same date in 2014.
Apparently, Jakks is acting on behalf of both companies, while THQ is saying that the decision does not apply to it and that the videogame publisher is not under any obligation to renew the same contract.
The WWE license, which is the base for games like Legends of Wrestlemania and
Smackdown vs. RAW, has been a source of dispute for some years, with THQ recently winning a suit related to royalties and with the WWE accusing the two licensing companies of bribery and anti-trust offenses.
THQ put together and released a new fighting franchise,
UFC 2009: Undisputed, which has performed very well in sales and was warmly received by critics. The recent statement stressing that the company is under no obligation to renew its contract with the WWE might suggest that the publisher, which has financial problems and is streamlining its operations, might ditch the Wrestlemania franchise altogether and focus on UFC, which seems to attract more gamers due to its high level of realism.
Other companies might be interested in picking up the franchise and giving it new life. Electronic Arts has announced that it plans to release a MMA game, but will likely have issues with getting fighter likenesses in, mainly because of how the UFC is handling image rights. The publisher might want to get the rights to the WWE franchise so that it can create a true to real life fighting game.
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