This weekend has seen a rather intriguing rumour blaze like wildfire throughout Twitter concerning the future of THQ, the publisher of the Saints Row franchise, as well as the WWE and UFC annual titles.

Kevin Dent, a games industry veteran, tweeted that THQ had cancelled an MMO it was developing under licence from Games Workshop (ie: Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium Online). He goes on to say the publisher has also cancelled all projects that were due for release in 2014 and is in the process of returning intellectual property to relevant companies in order to position the company for sale.

“I am hearing everything (in 2014 is canceled), they need to preserve cash.” he tweeted, before noting that THQ’s stock price is around 66 cents; it was about $6 this time last year.

As for whether or not there is sufficient backup to this claim, the evidence is somewhat mixed. On the one hand, they did “ditch the Red Faction” franchise, and in August 2011, they closed two Australian studios and cut 200 jobs in the process. But they also opened up a new studio in Montréal in October, luring away Patrice Dèsilets – the creative director behind Ubisoft’s big hit Assassin’s Creed. It is a rather extraordinary rumour that has at least some ground to stand on.