 Logo in use since August 2016 | |
| Formerly | Nordic Games GmbH (2011–2016) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2011; 14 years ago (2011) |
| Headquarters | , Austria |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Products | SeeList of THQ Nordic games |
| Revenue |  €161 million[1] (2022) |
Number of employees | 988[1] (2022) |
| Parent | Embracer Group |
| Subsidiaries | See§ Subsidiaries |
| Website | thqnordic |
THQ Nordic GmbH (formerlyNordic Games GmbH) is an Austrianvideo game publisher based inVienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary ofEmbracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were renamed THQ Nordic in August 2016 after the parent company had acquired the "THQ"trademark in 2014.
The company publishes licensed games from entertainment companies such asAEW,Nickelodeon,Lucasfilm Ltd.,Comedy Central, andDisney, while maintaining its own development studios andIP, publishing franchises likeDestroy All Humans!,Darksiders,Alone in the Dark,SpellForce, andGothic.
THQ Nordic's core portfolio comprises assets that were acquired from other developers and publishers, such as fromJoWooD Entertainment and its subsidiariesDreamCatcher Interactive andThe Adventure Company in 2011,THQ in 2013, andNovaLogic in 2016. THQ Nordic has acquired and established several subsidiary studios, includingBlack Forest Games,Bugbear Entertainment,Gunfire Games,HandyGames,Piranha Bytes,Purple Lamp, andRainbow Studios.
Nordic Games GmbH was founded in 2011 as part of the Nordic Games Holding group.[2] Within this group, Nordic Games became a subsidiary ofNordic Games Licensing, which was established in the same year.[3][4] In June 2011, Nordic Games Holding acquired assets fromJoWooD and its affiliate companiesDreamCatcher Interactive andThe Adventure Company, including their brands and products. Nordic Games.[5][6] Several former JoWooD employees were hired by Nordic Games to work on sales of JoWooD's former properties, and Nordic Games Group's former publishing arm, Nordic Games Publishing, was integrated into the new Nordic Games to facilitate operations.[7]
Darksiders is a top product.THQ spent $50m makingDarksiders 2 (...) We can produce a product of the same quality but for a lower cost. $50m is ridiculous, I can't afford that. Many of our IPs will only generate $50k a year, but it's still money. Sure, it's amounts thatEA and the big guys wouldn't care about, but now we have hundreds of IPs, and in a few years we'll have a few hundred more. It will add up to something much bigger.
In April 2013, Nordic Games acquired all left-over properties from the bankruptcy auctions of American video game publisherTHQ forUS$4.9 million. Included in the deal were over 150 individual games, including theDarksiders,Red Faction, andMX vs. ATV franchises.[9][10] In June 2013, Nordic Games acquired theDesperados franchise, comprisingDesperados: Wanted Dead or Alive andDesperados 2: Cooper's Revenge, as well as the gameSilver, fromAtari.[11]
In December 2013, Nordic Games launched Grimlore Games, avideo game developer composed of formerCoreplay employees, based inMunich, Germany.[12][13] In May 2014, Nordic Games acquired theintellectual property forThe Moment of Silence,The Mystery of the Druids andCurse of the Ghost Ship, as well as the publishing rights toOverclocked: A History of Violence and15 Days, from bankrupt German publisherDTP Entertainment.[14]
In July 2015, Nordic Games and developerPiranha Bytes announcedELEX, an originalaction role-playing game.[15] The following month, Nordic Games acquired a number of franchises from bankrupt German publisherbitComposer Entertainment, including theJagged Alliance franchise.[16] In February 2016, Nordic Games acquired all intellectual property from Hungarian publisherDigital Reality, includingSine Mora.[17]
In August 2016, Nordic Games changed its name to THQ Nordic GmbH (alongside Nordic Games Licensing AB, which became THQ Nordic AB), utilising the "THQ"trademark the parent company had acquired in June 2014.[18][19] According to Wingefors and THQ Nordic's Reinhard Pollice, the name change was undergone to capitalise on the good reputation of THQ's past, although they avoided naming the companies just "THQ" to avoid connections to THQ's more recent, troubled history being made.[18] In October 2016, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired all intellectual property and assets fromNovaLogic, includingDelta Force.[20] In December 2016, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquiredSphinx and the Cursed Mummy from Mobile Gaming Studios, as well asLegends of War andWar Leaders: Clash of Nations from Enigma Software Productions.[21] Sometime in late 2016, THQ Nordic launched Mirage Game Studios inKarlstad, Sweden.[22]
In February 2017, THQ Nordic announced that it, alongside Digital Continue, was developing a remaster ofLock's Quest with a tentative release in April 2017 forMicrosoft Windows,PlayStation 4 andXbox One.[23] In March 2017, THQ Nordic announced a remastered version ofBaja: Edge of Control, titledBaja: Edge of Control HD, a port ofDe Blob for Microsoft Windows, developed byBlitWorks, andSine Mora EX, an extended version ofSine Mora, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[24][25] Later that month, THQ Nordic also acquired the in-developmentRad Rodgers, overtaking publishing on behalf of developerSlipgate Studios.[26] In May 2017, THQ Nordic announced a new game,Darksiders III, developed byGunfire Games, which was composed of former employees from originalDarksiders developerVigil Games.[27] In August 2017, THQ Nordic acquired German developerBlack Forest Games for€1.35 million and Swedish developer Pieces Interactive for 2.8 millionkr.[28][29] This was followed by the acquisition of Experiment 101, the Swedish developer behind the in-developmentBiomutant, for 75.3 million kr in November 2017.[30]
In March 2018, afterActivision's licence for games onNickelodeon properties had expired, THQ Nordic announced a partnership with Nickelodeon that would allow them to re-release sixteen Nickelodeon games previously published by THQ.[31] In July 2018, THQ Nordic acquired Germanmobile game developer-publisherHandyGames for€1 million in cash and a performance-basedearn-out of up to€1.5 million.[32][33] In August 2018, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired the rights toSecond Sight and theTimeSplitters franchise fromCrytek.[34] In September, THQ Nordic acquired the intellectual property toKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, including the cancelledProject Copernicus, from38 Studios, as well asAct of War and theAlone in the Dark franchise from Atari.[35][36]
In November 2018, THQ Nordic acquired a 90% stake in Finnish developerBugbear Entertainment, including all of its intellectual property, for an undisclosed sum, leaving open the option to purchase the remaining 10% at a later point in time.[37] That same month, THQ Nordic acquired theExpeditions franchise, includingExpeditions: Conquistador andExpeditions: Viking, and announced that it was working with series creator Logic Artists to develop a third game in the series.[38] In December 2018, THQ Nordic acquired theCarmageddon franchise fromStainless Games, which itself had bought the franchise in 2011.[39]
In January 2019, THQ Nordic acquired the rights to theOutcast franchise from Belgian developer Appeal.[40] In May 2019, the publisher acquired Piranha Bytes.[41] In August 2019, THQ Nordic acquired American developerGunfire Games, which had worked with THQ Nordic on the release ofDarksiders III.[42] Nine Rocks Games, an in-house studio based inBratislava, Slovakia, and led by David Durcak ofDayZ, was established by THQ Nordic in February 2020 to work on "shooter/survival" games.[43]
On 26 February 2019, THQ Nordic'spublic relations and marketing director, Philipp Brock, and business and product development director Reinhard Pollice, hosted an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) questions-and-answers session on8chan, a controversialimageboard website commonly associated withchild pornography,racism andhate speech, including theGamergate controversy.[44] The AMA was announced by Brock through THQ Nordic'sTwitter account, and after receiving initial criticism for using the controversial website as host for the AMA, explained that a person named Mark would "take care of the nasty stuff".[45] On 8chan, both Brock and Pollice interacted with users asking about controversial topics, such as "lolis" and "social justice warriors", garnering further criticism.[46] After widespread criticism, Brock apologised on THQ Nordic's Twitter account, writing that he did not research the site's history and that he did not "condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism".[47] Lars Wingefors, the co-founder andchief executive officer of THQ Nordic AB, apologised for the event in early March.[48]
In May 2020, THQ Nordic andKoch Media, another Embracer Group arm, exchanged severalintellectual property rights: THQ Nordic receivedRisen,Rush for Berlin,Sacred,Second Sight, andSingles: Flirt Up Your Life, while handing offRed Faction andPainkiller to Koch Media'sDeep Silver label.[49]
After previously seeking player opinion on a possibleGothic remake as early as 2019,[50] THQ Nordic announced in March 2021 that it had established Alkimia Interactive in Barcelona to lead development on this project.[51]
THQ announced the acquisition of Kaiko, Appeal Studios, and Massive Miniteam (Pulheim-based porting studio) in May 2021, along with the creation of distributor THQ Nordic France SAS and animation technical division Gate 21 d.o.o.[52]
On February 24, 2022, THQNordic announced the acquisition of Frankfurt-based Metricminds, a motion capture and animation studio that has worked on THQNordic games like Destroy All Humans! Remake, Darksiders III and Remnant: From The Ashes.
In June 2023, Campfire Cabal was closed with all its employees being laid off.[53]
THQ Nordic operates several development studios, as well as two international distribution arms: THQ Nordic Inc. in the United States (established in 2012) and THQ Nordic Japan KK in Japan (established in 2019).[54]
| Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alkimia Interactive | Barcelona | 2018 | — | [50][55][51] |
| Appeal Studios | Belgium | 2018 | 2021 | [52] |
| Ashborne Games | Brno | 2020 | — | [56] |
| Black Forest Games | Offenburg | July 2012 | August 2017 | [57][28] |
| Bugbear Entertainment | Helsinki | 2000 | November 2018 | [37] |
| Experiment 101 | Stockholm | 2015 | November 2017 | [30] |
| Gate21 d.o.o. | Sarajevo | 2021 | — | [52] |
| Grimlore Games | Munich | December 2013 | — | [12] |
| Gunfire Games | Austin, Texas | 2014 | August 2019 | [42] |
| HandyGames | Giebelstadt | 2000 | July 2018 | [32] |
| Kaiko | Frankfurt | 2014 | 2021 | [52] |
| Metricminds | 2001 | February 2022 | [58] | |
| Mirage Game Studios | Karlstad | 2016 | — | [22] |
| Nine Rocks Games | Bratislava | February 2020 | — | [43] |
| Pow Wow Entertainment | Vienna | 2019 | August 2020 | [59] |
| Purple Lamp | 2018 | November 2020 | [60][61] | |
| THQ Nordic France SAS | Paris | 2021 | — | [52] |
| Name | Location | Founded | Acquired | Divested | Fate | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campfire Cabal | Copenhagen | September 2022 | — | June 2023 | Defunct | [62][53] |
| Foxglove Studios | Stockholm | 2016 | — | 2019 | Spun off | [63][64] |
| Rainbow Studios | Phoenix, Arizona | 2013[a] | — | 2024 | Spun off | |
| Pieces Interactive | Skövde | 2007 | August 2017 | June 17, 2024 | Defunct | [29][69] |
| Piranha Bytes | Essen | 1997 | May 2019 | June 2024 | Defunct | [41][70] |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
