The Austria-based developer THQ Nordic has been making lots of moves lately, picking up another in a string of acquisitions. The latest pickup for the company is the underlying rights to Kingdom of Amalur.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was an ambitious project which sought to bring the traditional gameplay elements of an MMORPG into a singleplayer setting. While the storytelling and art style were interesting, there were lots of flaws with the game. Despite the involvement of some real powerhouse names in fiction and games like R.A. Salvatore and some good reviews, it struggled to find a solid fanbase. Despite Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning‘s potential, it failed, and both it and the MMO it was meant to spawn, went the way of the dinos.
The game went on to contribute to the bankruptcy of 38 Studios, the game studio owned by baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. The failure of the game went on to spur legal investigations over a $75 million dollar loan to the venture from the state of Rhode Island. The matter even drew SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) attention and led to fines for those involved.
All in all, it’s a bit peculiar to see THQ Nordic pick up a mostly-forgotten fantasy franchise from 2012, but I can’t help but wonder what they plan to do with it. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But the sprawling RPG isn’t the only move the company has made as of late. The team has also purchased the rights to Second Sight. The sci-fi action game from 2004 which was originally released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC. Another grab for THQ Nordic was TimeSplitters. This sci-fi shooter saw some niche success since it’s release in 2000. It will be very interesting to see what a new lease on life could do for these franchises.
