THQ Nordic's Studio and IP Buying Spree Won't Be Slowing Down any Time Soon

Kingdoms of Amalur 2 ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀)つ¤=[]:::::> TimeSplitters, 4. ̿̿̿. ̿̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'̵͇̿̿з= ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) =ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

This is a crazy comeback story... THQ published some great games back before they went under, so seeing them come back after going belly up and auctioning off all of their properties is pretty unreal.

More AAA games is always a good thing - as long as they don't ruin the franchises and studio's as EA have done. With games obviously taking a bit longer to develop, there is always a hunger for great new games. Activision have clearly reduced their Output to 1/2 new games a year and some old game remakes (Crash/Spyro) and EA are not exactly looked on favourably by gamers - to the point that even if they released a 'great' game, gamers would expect EA to screw it up somehow. Square Enix are not exactly prolific and Ubisoft, whilst are relatively high output, a lot of games feel like you have already played them - AC/FC etc - as they are very much like the last game last year - but at least have brought new IP's like Watchdogs, the Division and soon Skull n Bones.

That should give THQ the opportunity to become the biggest and best 'Publisher' in both 'output' and (hopefully) average metacritic score - as long as they don't do an EA to beloved (Star Wars for example) franchises.

they are laundering money. Source : dude, trust me.

There are no words for how much I want Kingdoms of Amalur 2. Hell, give me a remaster of the first give me something...

@BAMozzy They only thing they're missing is good dev studios. They have a bunch, but most of them produce shovelware. I know they recently acquired the Kingdom Come studio, but that game was hardly on par with the average ''AAA'' game. There's potential, but they've still got a long way to go.

Ever played the board game Monopoly? THQ Nordic is the guy that buys every property he lands on, no matter the value. His only hope for success is if he happens to land on Boardwalk and Park Place. Then the rest of the players are all screwed.

So who here has the bigger money pickle regarding acquiring studios

THQ Nordic
Or
Microsoft

Nordic Game did not merge with THQ, they bought the name THQ and merely changed their name...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THQ_Nordic

@torne Yeah, this isn't the same company at all. Only in name are they related to THQ of the past.

Okay, let’s please get a time splitters trilogy hd remaster going

Kingdoms of Amalur remaster & new game I will be so happy man

Would be nice to see them doing something with all these studios they have purchased surely there should be something they can announce even if its HD remasters of old games.

@Octane Certainly not going to disagree with you there. The Studio's they have could of course be limited by time, manpower and/or budget before. Now under THQ, they could have all of these in sufficient quantity as well as access to a shared knowledge pool within the THQ family. If, for example, a team wanted to mo-cap but had never had the budget before, under THQ, they may have access and finances to add this to their game, and someone within THQ who had used Mo-capping before to teach them how to film and choreograph actors and camera operators to achieve the results they were looking for.

Point is, its not just acquiring studios, large or small, its acquiring the knowledge and skills too that can be shared around to others. Not everyone will have the same skill set or experience in everything required to make a AAA game. Some may well be better at environments, MP map making, character modelling etc. Therefore, you are much more likely to find someone within THQ now to attempt something an independent budget starved studio would not of contemplated before. Its not always just the individual parts but the collective skills, knowledge and experience.

I am certain that Sony's own studio's are helping each other as and when they need to tap into something they may not have as much experience in. Collectively they are stronger than the sum of their parts.

Hopefully this will be the case with THQ too...

@BAMozzy I hope you're right. That would be the best outcome.

@BAMozzy Nordic Games are unlikely to ever spend large amounts of money on a single game. Lars Wingerfors call the 50 million $ spent on Darksiders 2 ridiculous and said they aimed to produce at the same quality the lower cost. Ultimately that means AA or less polished games. Hopefully you’re right that by sharing experience they can make the resources go further.

I don't get what are they planning to do but I wish them good luck with all those dead IP