THQ Nordic GmbH
, previously known as Nordic Games, is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. It is the flagship operating group of Swedish holding company Embracer Group.
The company was formed in 2011 after Nordic Games Holding, acquired all the assets of the defunct Austrian publisher JoWooD Entertainment and its subsidiary DreamCatcher Interactive. They made serious headlines when they bought the majority of THQ's IPs after the latter's dissolution in 2013. This ended up just being the start of the young company's rise as they kept up their rate of acquisitions throughout the The New '10s with IPs from everyone from Atari to Crytek, many of which have been dead for years (giving them something of a reputation as the studio equivalent of the guy who knocks door to door and asks if he can have any junk that you have laying around), acquiring several studios along the way. Their end goal is to bring back mid-range (AA) games, larger than independent works, but not quite triple-A.
Their name itself is a testament to this, as they've bought the dead THQ trademark following their bankruptcy and rebranded to THQ Nordic in 2016. Their parent company, acquired Coffee Stain Studios as well as Deep Silver and their parent company Koch Media in 2018, making them both officially sister companies to THQ Nordic. The following year, THQ Nordic AB rebranded to Embracer Group to represent its growth beyond THQ Nordic and Koch. Said company would also later go on to buy Gearbox Software's parent company, Gearbox Entertainment, Saber Interactive, several developers, and later still, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive (and 50 titles) from Square Enix. In 2022, alongside acquiring the Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix studios and properties, announced its plans to buy Middle-earth Enterprises, which owns the J. R. R. Tolkien properties as well as Limited Run, Bitwave Games, Giotek, Singtrix, Tatsujin, Tripwire Interactive and Tuxedo Games. In 2023, after a major investment deal fell through, Embracer initiated a massive group restructuring which started with the shut down of several studios including the likes of Free Radical Design, Campfire Cabal and Volition. In 2024, Embracer sold Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive while retaining most of their studios and titles while that same year, Take-Two Interactive announced its plans to buy Gearbox Entertainment, most of its divisions and certain properties, with the acquisition set to be completed by T2's 2025 fiscal year. As a result of these divestments, Embracer announced that same year that it would split into three companies, THQ Nordic would become part of "Cofee Stain & Friends" as a result.
Subsidiaries
- The Adventure Companynote
- Alkimia Interactive
- Appeal Studios
- Ashborne Games
- Black Forest Games
- Bugbear Entertainment
- Experiment 101
- Grimlore Games
- Gunfire Games
- HandyGames
- Massive Miniteam
- Kaiko
- Mirage Game Studios
- Nine Rocks Games
- Pieces Interactive
- Piranha Bytes
- Plaion
- Pow Wow Entertainment
- Purple Lamp Studios
- Rainbow Studios
Games published by THQ Nordic:
- SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny (2012)
- SpellForce 2: Demons of the Past (2014)
- SpellForce III (2017)
- Spell Force Conquest Of Eo (2023)
- Painkiller: Recurring Evil (2012)
- Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (2012)
- Deadfall Adventures (2013)
- MX vs. ATV Supercross (2014)
- MX vs. ATV All Out (2018)
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (2015)
- Legend of Kay: Anniversary (2015)
- Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (2015)
- Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (2016)
- Darksiders III (2018)
- Darksiders Genesis (2019)
- This Is the Police (2016)
- This Is The Police 2 (2018)
- Rebel Cops (2019)
- Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition (2016)
- de Blob (ports) (2017)
- Sine Mora EX (2017)
- Battle Chasers: Nightwar (2017)
- ELEX (2017)
- ELEX II (2022)
- Black Mirror (2017)
- Wreckfest (2018)
- Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered (2018)
- Fade to Silence (2019)
- Desperados III (2020)
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom — Rehydrated (2020)
- Destroy All Humans! (2020)
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (2020)
- Aqua Nox: Deep Descent (2020)
- Biomutant (2021)
- Expeditions: Rome (2022)
- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (2022)
- AEW Fight Forever (2023)
- Jagged Alliance 3 (2023)
- Last Train Home (2023)
- Alone in the Dark (2024)
- South Park: Snow Day! (2024)
- Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (2024)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin (TBA)
