Back in 2013, video game publisher THQ succumbed to financial problems and went out of business. Today, the name is being dusted off. Nordic Games, a relatively anonymous Swedish developer, is rebranding itself as THQ Nordic.
In the fire sale that resulted from THQ’s closing, other developers bought out their IPs. That is how, among others, Deep Silver ended up with Saints Row and Ubisoft managed to grab South Park: The Stick of Truth. However, Nordic Games grabbed the lion’s share, netting series that included Darksiders, Red Faction, Titan Quest, and Supreme Commander.
Evidently, Nordic also purchased the THQ name. In a press release issued today, Nordic announced the name change.
“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.”
THQ Nordic goes on to mention that they are currently working on 23 different games, including 13 that are unannounced. They state that the majority of the unannounced games are based on IPs formerly owned by THQ. Speculation, of course, has been running rampant. Could there be a Darksiders3 or Supreme Commander 3? How about a Titan Quest 2 or another Red Faction title?
The only thing we know for sure is that Darksiders is getting the remaster treatment this year. We will hear from Nordic soon enough when they’re ready to share.
