Nordic Games Licensing has paid $4.9 million to acquire Red Faction, Darksiders (pictured above), MX vs ATV, and other game properties from THQ. Altogether, THQ raised $6.55 million in its final auction of its last remaining assets.
Nordic acquired Darksiders, Red Faction, Homeworld, MX vs ATV, Destroy All Humans!, Summoner, Marvel Super Hero Squad, Supreme Commander, and other properties. The deal is subject to a bankruptcy court approval.
The acquisition will give some an injection of brand power to Nordic Games, which has published games such as Painkiller HD, Singstar, and Book of Unwritten Tales. Nordic’s upcoming games include The Raven and Deadfall Adventures.
As reported earlier, Gearbox Software paid $1.3 million for Homeworld, a sci-fi game property created by THQ’s Relic Entertainment. THQ acquired the rights to Homeworld when it bought Relic for $10 million in 2004.
THQ got 17 bids. 505 Games paid $300,000 for Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter.
THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. In a prior auction, THQ sold three of its studios and a number of games in development. It sold off Turtle Rock Studios’ Evolve, Homefront 2, Metro: Last Light, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. The sales netted the bankrupt company more than $72 million.
The sales will be finalized on May 13. Nordic is opening forums to talk with players directly about the future of the THQ franchises. Altogether, Nordic is getting more than 150 titles.
Under the deal, Karlstad, Sweden-based Nordic Games Licensing is acquiring the titles and Nordic Games, based in Vienna, Austria. Nordic Games previous acquired game publishers JoWooD and DreamCatcher.
“First and foremost we are very happy about this deal which also turns over a new leaf for the entire Nordic Games Group. In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles” said Lars Wingefors, the owner and CEO of Nordic Games, in a statement. “A very important point for us is not to dash into several self-financed multi-million dollar projects right away, but rather to continue our in-depth analysis of all titles and carefully selecting different financing models for developing new instalments of acquired IPs.”
Other titles that Nordic picked up include Titan Quest, Frontlines, Stuntman, Juiced, and Full Spectrum Warrior.