In 2013, former publisher THQ closed its doors after several months of financial turbulence. While rivals Deep Silver and Sega jumped on the likes of Saints Row and Relic Entertainment thereafter, Nordic Games—an otherwise unheard of studio at the time—claimed the likes of Red Faction, Supreme Commander, and Darksiders. Today, eight years after its formation, Nordic Games has changed its name to THQ Nordic.
“One could say the most defining moment for our company happened in 2013, grabbing headlines like; ‘Who the F*** is Nordic Games?’, "‘Darksiders Gets Bought By…Nordic Games?’, and ‘Nordic Games explains who the f they are, plans for THQ assets’," reads a press release issued by Nordic/THQ Nordic.
It continues:
“Whilst we take great pride in our Swedish roots and accomplished a great deal under the Nordic Games masthead, we decided it was time to incorporate the THQ name. Those key brands will continue to shape our business in a meaningful way going forward, and THQ Nordic represents a core approach of doing much more than ‘owning’ a highly competitive portfolio of IPs.
“We cherish them, and align them with the very best development resources to expand upon them with the level of experience that communities and established fan bases expect and deserve. With this rebrand we are entering the next phase in our company’s evolution.”
Beyond the marketing speak and mostly superficial rebranding, though, THQ Nordic goes onto outline what’s next for the newly-named publisher. “As of now we have 23 game projects in development, 13 thereof have not yet been publicly announced, but are sure to be in the next months,” it adds. “Needless to say, the majority of these projects are based on former THQ owned IPs and franchises.”
We already know the original Darksiders is getting remastered this year, so I’d bet the much-awaited Darksiders 3 is one of those 13. As for the rest, might we expect another Red Faction instalment? What about Supreme Commander 3? Stick your predictions in the comments below.
