[Scarlett.]

THQ Nordic has announced the complete acquisition of Koch Media and its Deep Silver and Volition subsidiaries, giving it full control of the Saints Row, Dead Island, and Metro franchises.

Born from the ashes of THQ, split up in 2013 and sold off to various buyers, when Nordic Games took over the name, THQ Nordic has been on something of a spending spree of late. Last year the company announced the acquisition of Novalogic intellectual property, and now it's made its biggest deal yet: the acquisition of Koch Media and its wholly-owned subsidiary Deep Silver and that subsidiary's subsidiary Volition - which was once, in a lovely closing of the circle, a THQ subsidiary - for €121 million in cash.

'Koch Media has a long history of profitability despite losses incurred from some less successful game releases,' says THQ Nordic chief executive Lars Wingefors of the deal. 'THQ Nordic is convinced that the development studios of Deep Silver as part of THQ Nordic will successfully deliver at least four ongoing AAA game projects including Metro Exodus as well as the next Volition Studio AAA release and the next Dambuster Studio AAA release, together with a number of other game development and publishing titles.'

'I strongly believe that THQ Nordic is a great strategic fit with Koch Media,' adds Koch Media chief executive Dr. Kelems Kundratitz. 'In addition to having long experience within games development and publishing, THQ Nordic has the skills, willingness and capital to deliver growth in the future.'

The deal gives THQ Nordic control of a number of popular franchises, including the Saints Row and Dead Island franchises plus an exclusive licence for the Metro franchise. In total, THQ gains 15 IPs and 14 game development projects, of which nine are so-far unannounced, to add to its existing 91 IPs and 36 game projects. The combined company will have 36 development studios and a total headcount of 1,643.

Holy ****... THQ and Volition back together! Koch and THQ Nordic picked up quite a number of Old THQ's franchises, which means a majority of THQ's titles are back in the right hands!

[Scarlett.]

THQ Nordic has announced that they have picked up the Timesplitters property and released trilogy, as well as the rights to Free Radical's Second Sight. This puts THQ Nordic in a position to not only re-release the old Timesplitters games, but to make new ones, as well.

"Timesplitters was largely considered as one of the most influential console games of the early 2000’s," THQ Nordic wrote in a press release just issued. "The three game series earned a large and passionate fan base thanks to its unique humor, art style and pop culture references while encouraging customization and modification to give each person their own individual experience."

Additionally, THQ Nordic noted that they have purchased the IP for Second Sight, as well as the rights for the 2004 stealth paraspychological horror game itself if they ever want to re-release it.

Timesplitters was created by British game development studio Free Radical, which was primarily made of ex-Rare employees who worked on Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. The three Timesplitters games were published under different publishers and had a fanbase that created a lot of demand for a revival of the series. Free Radical suffered a number of setbacks, however, before any revival could be considered. The studio was working on Star Wars: Battlefront III, but the game was cancelled at the last minute by Lucasarts, according to former employees. Combined with the critical drumming that Ubisoft game Haze took, the studio declared bankruptcy and closed.

It was later purchased by Crytek and rebranded as Crytek UK. During THQ's IP rights auction, Crytek picked up Homefront and intended to produce a sequel to the game, which they were working on for many years. Crytek faced immense financial troubles and allegedly stopped paying staff for a period, prompting Crytek to lay off staff from Crytek UK and eventually selling the Homefront license, Crytek UK, and the work done on Homefront 2 to Deep Silver's parent company in 2014. Deep Silver then ended up publishing the game with Crytek UK, formerly Free Radical, now renamed Deep Silver Dambuster.

Fast forward to earlier this year, where Deep Silver's parent company, Koch Media, was acquired by THQ Nordic. With THQ Nordic acquiring the Timesplitters IP, in theory, Free Radical can work on the series they popularized in the first place.

Game Informer

[Smithy]

-gay screams-