And Everything Else From THQ Went To... Nordic Games?
OK, Nordic Games, the jig's up. You can go ahead and change your name to THQ II: The Rise Of Mecha-Bilson already, because seriously, you just purchased the publisher's legacy. Sure, Gearbox snagged Homeworld, and the company's modern heavy hitters found new, loving homes, but Nordic now (pending court approval) owns nearly everything else. Red Faction? Yep. Darksiders? Oh, certainly. And oh man, Titan Quest? Sure, why not. Supreme Commander too. And hey, remember Full Spectrum Warrior? I must admit, I - along with my good friend, Basically The Entire World - had forgotten about it, but Nordic deemed the military tactics sorta-sim worth salvaging. Here's the kicker, though: all those? Only the tip of the iceberg.
So far, Nordic's mentioned the following series by name, but with the caveat that its full bounty includes "much more":
- Titan Quest
- Darksiders
- Red Faction
- MX vs. ATV
- Frontlines
- Juiced
- Stuntman
- Destroy All Humans
- Deadly Creatures
- The Outfit
- Summoner
- Full Spectrum Warrior
- Supreme Commander
Perhaps taking a cue from Gearbox, the Painkiller: Hell and Damnation publisher has also opened its forums to discussions with fans about where these franchises should go next. Beyond that, the goal is to take things slow and steady rather than making a mad dash for the finish to cash in. CEO Lars Wingefors explained in a statement:
“A very important point for us is not to dash into several self-financed multi-million dollar projects right away, but rather to continue our in-depth analysis of all titles and carefully selecting different financing models for developing new instalments of acquired IPs."
“In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles."
So that could lead to some pretty interesting developments, especially since studios like Volition are still alive and kicking, and Vigil essentially reformed under Crytek with intent to free their old pal Death from the mad, pestilent purgatory that is bureaucratic limbo. I wonder, too, how much they ended up bidding, given that it clearly wasn't enough to counter Nordic's $4.9 million buffet approach.
Nordic plans to release a more comprehensive list of its winnings in May, after everything's been finalized. Until then, though, are you happy to see these series get a second lease on life? Are there any you'd especially like to see back in the limelight, assuming Nordic doesn't torpedo its own hull by excitedly announcing uDraw II: Electric Booga-- Fuck, We're Bankrupt Now?