As Nordic Games GmbH (2011–2016) Nordic Games GmbH was founded in 2011 as part of the Nordic Games Holding group. Within this group, Nordic Games became a subsidiary of
Nordic Games Licensing, which was established in the same year. In June 2011, Nordic Games Holding acquired assets from
JoWooD and its affiliate companies
DreamCatcher Interactive and
The Adventure Company, including their brands and products. Nordic Games. Several former JoWooD employees were hired by Nordic Games to work on sales of JoWooD's former properties, and Nordic Games Group's former publishing arm, Nordic Games Publishing, was integrated into the new Nordic Games to facilitate operations. In April 2013, Nordic Games acquired all left-over properties from the bankruptcy auctions of American video game publisher
THQ for . Included in the deal were over 150 individual games, including the
Darksiders,
Red Faction, and
MX vs. ATV franchises. In June 2013, Nordic Games acquired the
Desperados franchise, comprising
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive and ''
Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge, as well as the game Silver'', from
Atari. In December 2013, Nordic Games launched Grimlore Games, a
video game developer composed of former Coreplay employees, based in
Munich, Germany. In May 2014, Nordic Games acquired the
intellectual property for
The Moment of Silence,
The Mystery of the Druids and
Curse of the Ghost Ship, as well as the publishing rights to
Overclocked: A History of Violence and
15 Days, from bankrupt German publisher
DTP Entertainment. In July 2015, Nordic Games and developer
Piranha Bytes announced
ELEX, an original
action role-playing game. The following month, Nordic Games acquired a number of franchises from bankrupt German publisher bitComposer Entertainment, including the
Jagged Alliance franchise. In February 2016, Nordic Games acquired all intellectual property from Hungarian publisher
Digital Reality, including
Sine Mora.
As THQ Nordic GmbH (2016–present) In August 2016, Nordic Games changed its name to THQ Nordic GmbH (alongside Nordic Games Licensing AB, which became THQ Nordic AB), utilising the "THQ"
trademark the parent company had acquired in June 2014. According to Wingefors and THQ Nordic's Reinhard Pollice, the name change was undergone to capitalise on the good reputation of THQ's past, although they avoided naming the companies just "THQ" to avoid connections to THQ's more recent, troubled history being made. In December 2016, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy from Mobile Gaming Studios, as well as
Legends of War and
War Leaders: Clash of Nations from Enigma Software Productions. Sometime in late 2016, THQ Nordic launched Mirage Game Studios in
Karlstad, Sweden. In February 2017, THQ Nordic announced that it, alongside Digital Continue, was developing a remaster of ''
Lock's Quest with a tentative release in April 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In March 2017, THQ Nordic announced a remastered version of Baja: Edge of Control, titled Baja: Edge of Control HD
, a port of De Blob for Microsoft Windows, developed by BlitWorks, and Sine Mora EX
, an extended version of Sine Mora
, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Later that month, THQ Nordic also acquired the in-development Rad Rodgers, overtaking publishing on behalf of developer Slipgate Studios. In May 2017, THQ Nordic announced a new game, Darksiders III, developed by Gunfire Games, which was composed of former employees from original Darksiders
developer Vigil Games. In August 2017, THQ Nordic acquired German developer Black Forest Games for and Swedish developer Pieces Interactive for . This was followed by the acquisition of Experiment 101, the Swedish developer behind the in-development Biomutant'', for in November 2017. In March 2018, after
Activision's licence for games on
Nickelodeon properties had expired, THQ Nordic announced a partnership with Nickelodeon that would allow it to re-release sixteen Nickelodeon games previously published by THQ. In July 2018, THQ Nordic acquired German
mobile game developer-publisher
HandyGames for in cash and a performance-based
earn-out of up to . In August 2018, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired the rights to
Second Sight and the
TimeSplitters franchise from
Crytek. In September, THQ Nordic acquired the intellectual property to
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, including the cancelled
Project Copernicus, from
38 Studios, as well as
Act of War and the
Alone in the Dark franchise from Atari. In November 2018, THQ Nordic acquired a 90% stake in Finnish developer
Bugbear Entertainment, including all of its intellectual property, for an undisclosed sum, leaving open the option to purchase the remaining 10% at a later point in time. That same month, THQ Nordic acquired the
Expeditions franchise, including
Expeditions: Conquistador and
Expeditions: Viking, and announced that it was working with series creator Logic Artists to develop a third game in the series. In December 2018, THQ Nordic acquired the
Carmageddon franchise from
Stainless Games, which itself had bought the franchise in 2011. In January 2019, THQ Nordic acquired the rights to the
Outcast franchise from Belgian developer Appeal. In May 2019, the publisher acquired Piranha Bytes. In August 2019, THQ Nordic acquired American developer
Gunfire Games, which had worked with THQ Nordic on the release of
Darksiders III. Nine Rocks Games, an in-house studio based in
Bratislava, Slovakia, and led by David Durcak of
DayZ, was established by THQ Nordic in February 2020 to work on "shooter/survival" games. The AMA was announced by Brock through THQ Nordic's
Twitter account, and after receiving initial criticism for using the controversial website as host for the AMA, explained that a person named Mark would "take care of the nasty stuff". On 8chan, both Brock and Pollice interacted with users asking about controversial topics, such as "
lolis" and "
social justice warriors", garnering further criticism. After widespread criticism, Brock apologised on THQ Nordic's Twitter account, writing that he did not research the site's history and that he did not "condone child pornography,
white supremacy, or racism". Lars Wingefors, the co-founder and
chief executive officer of THQ Nordic AB, apologised for the event in early March. In May 2020, THQ Nordic and
Koch Media, another Embracer Group arm, exchanged several
intellectual property rights: THQ Nordic received
Risen,
Rush for Berlin,
Sacred,
Second Sight, and
Singles: Flirt Up Your Life, while handing off
Red Faction and
Painkiller to Koch Media's
Deep Silver label. After previously seeking player opinion on a possible
Gothic remake as early as 2019, On February 24, 2022, THQNordic announced the acquisition of Frankfurt-based Metricminds, a motion capture and animation studio that has worked on THQNordic games like
Destroy All Humans! (2020),
Darksiders III and
Remnant: From The Ashes. In June 2023, Campfire Cabal was closed with all its employees being laid off. == Games ==