THQ Nordic, better known for publishing Darksiders 3 and acquiring the Kingdoms of Amalur and Timesplitters IPs, continues to expand. The publisher has announced that it has acquired Coffee Stain Studios (of Goat Simulator and Deep Rock Galactic fame) and Bugbear Entertainment (Wreckfest). Interestingly enough, in its financial report for Q3 2018, the publisher also revealed that it has 35 unannounced titles in development.
Speaking about the studio acquisitions, THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors said of Coffee Stain Studios, “We are creating a complementary digital native pillar to THQ Nordic. Coffee Stain is a passionate and highly competent team creating and publishing great games. After some years without major releases, the pipeline of new game releases such as Satisfactory and Deep Rock Galactic look strong. I look forward to working together with Anton Westbergh and his team in the future.”
Coffee Stain CEO Anton Westbergh said, “I strongly believe that THQ Nordic is a great home for Coffee Stain. In addition to having long experience within games development and publishing, THQ Nordic has the skills, willingness and capital to support our new releases and growth in the future.”
As for Bugbear Entertainment, Wingefors said, “We have been working together with Janne Alanenpää and his team since 2016, and see continued great potential in Wreckfest as well as in Bugbear’s future games pipeline. Janne Alanenpää is a legend within action racing games, and the Bugbear team will bring important development capabilities earned from creating outstanding games during almost two decades. We are very excited to have been able to acquire Bugbear and their portfolio and our aim is to build Wreckfest together into a major franchise for THQ Nordic with the release to console coming up first in time.”
Bugbear Entertainment CEO Janne Alanenpää in turn stated, “We are very excited to join forces with the THQ Nordic team. I believe THQ Nordic will become a perfect home for Bugbear to support our passion for games and for our customer. We look forward to accelerate our development of high quality racing games to contribute to THQ Nordic’s portfolio and future growth.”
THQ Nordic has roughly 55 games that it’s working on right now, including Generation Zero, Desperados 3, Biomutant and the upcoming Darksiders 3. The number of studios acting as subsidiaries for the company is currently at 12, but who knows where it could go next. For now, we’re looking forward to the release of Darksiders 3 on November 27th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
