THQ Nordic has been on an acquisition spree of late. They’ve been buying up brands left, right, and center. A lot of them are brands that once belonged to THQ before they went bankrupt; others are similarly defunct brands that seem to have been shored up.
Speaking to IGN, THQ Nordic’s business and product development director, Reinhard Pollice, talked about what has been prompting these acquisitions. Put simply, a lot of it simply comes down to THQ Nordic wanting to rescue these brands they have a fondness for—although they do note that it’s not just nostalgia fueling these decisions, but also good market and creative sense.
“It’s the games we loved in the past,” Pollice said. “We think they should still have a place, and we feel like it’s sometimes such a pity that there is no game like that out there, so whenever there’s an opportunity to get the original, we just grab it instead of creating something new.
“Whenever we acquire stuff, we really see it first from a game perspective. Is this something relevant? Is this something cool? Was it unique when it came out? Does it have a fan base? These sorts of questions are very important to us.”
Pollice also talked about the notion of chasing trends, noting that that is not something THQ Nordic is interested in. Rather, it wants to try and address gaps that exist in the markets, instead of making the umpteenth battle royale game.
“With every other major publisher scrambling to cash in on the popular mode, it makes more sense for THQ Nordic to try and diversify its approach, to offer something else, rather than risk putting all its eggs into one, increasingly crowded basket.”
I can respect this hustle. I can also respect, overall, them trying to address gaps in the market other publishers won’t. The death of the mid tier segment of the games market led to a loss of diversity and an overall homogenization of the market, and companies like THQ Nordic can work to stem the tide of trends like that. I just hope their efforts end up financially bearing fruit for them.
