Long gone are the days when THQ was a name in the video games industry that everyone associated with a dying publisher. Since the revival of the brand by Nordic Games GmbH in 2016, the company has been acting as the strong and stable publishing arm of the European conglomerate, Embracer Group. Since that time, the company has been on a spree of expansion and has acquired and established several subsidiary studios, including Black Forest Games, Bugbear Entertainment, Gunfire Games, HandyGames, Piranha Bytes, and Rainbow Studios. Now we can add one more name to that list, Nine Rocks Games.
This new studio is made up primarily of developers and other talented developers that worked on titles like DayZ, Soldier of Fortune: Payback and others. The developer is based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and already has a new project in the works. The overall publisher has had its finger in a lot of pies. At one point last year, it was said that THQ Nordic had 80 games in the works.
The company also acquired various other studios and IPs over the last few years. Piranha Bytes was purchased in Mau 2019, leading to the acquisition of the classic Gothic franchise among others. That move led to the development of a full Gothic Remaster, which is great for fans of the cult classic.
This new game compliments the other content strategies that THQ Nordic has been relying on since its revival to keep the lights on. When not buying up publishers and developers, or opening new ones, the company also acquires rights from third-party companies. In 2018, THQ Nordic negotiated a deal with kids media company Nickelodeon to re-release 16 games that were previously made under an older partnership between THQ and the TV entity.
The CEO of Nine Rocks Games was very positive about the deal. David Durcak says that the combination of talent and experience brought together under one roof by THQ Nordic has made for the “perfect conditions to collaborate” and that the company looks forward to the future.
“We welcome the newest addition to the THQ Nordic network of studios: Nine Rocks Games,” said THQ Nordic CEO Klemens Kreuzer. “I think it is always a great sign in business, when everything just seems to fall into place. The right people at the right time having the right mindset and a meaningful conversation… We are very happy to welcome the Slovak team on board and are excited about our first project with Nine Rocks Games.”
