There's a troubling rumor begun by Twitter user @TheKevinDent, an industry professional who's involved primarily with mobile gaming (check out his Linkedin). We just want to establish the guy's credibility, because if the rumors he's started today are true, it'll be a huge blow to the gaming industry.

The first was a tweet claiming that Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online, an MMO in development at Games Workshop, has been cancelled. This was followed by another tweet claiming THQ has, in fact, cancelled their entire 2014 lineup. Things went from bad to worse when Dent continued tweeting that they're "offering themselves to Asian firms to increase value!" His final relevant tweet claimed that THQ had returned an IP to Disney after paying for the license and failing to do anything with it—and there's no refunds on intellectual property licenses.

If all of those are true, THQ may be in the throes of death. A lot of great franchises could go with it; Darksiders, Homeworld, Saint's Row, Red Faction, Metro, Space Marines, Guillermo Del Toro's InSANE trilogy, and Patrice Desilets's (known for his work on Assassin's Creed 1 and 2) unannounced next project with the just-opened THQ Montreal. They're also set to release Obsidian's upcoming South Park RPG.

Studios under THQ's umbrella include Relic Entertainment, THQ Studio San Diego, Vigil Games, Volition, and THQ Studio Montreal. THQ's published some really great games in the last several years, and we're really looking forward to many of their upcoming titles, including Metro: Last Light, Darksiders 2, and InSANE, all of which are likely to come out in 2012 or 2013, even if their future post-2013 appears murky.

We've reached out to THQ for comment, and we'll let you know when they get back to us. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed, because when it comes down to it, a lot of people are likely to lose their jobs in this situation. That's never a good thing. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.