THQ Nordic acquires Darksiders dev Gunfire and racing studio Milestone
THQ Nordic has closed out the first quarter of the fiscal year by announcing a flurry of acquisitions, including Darksiders developer Gunfire and racing game specialist Milestone.
THQ Nordic has closed out the first quarter of the fiscal year by announcing a flurry of acquisitions.
The Austrian publisher has agreed to purchase racing game maker Milestone, Darksiders developer Gunfire Games, and investment company Goodbye Kansas Game Invest.
The Milestone deal will see THQ fully acquire the Italian studio for around $50.2 million in cash, but that price could rise based on certain performance targets. The MotoGP, Ride, and MXGP developer has worked on 50 games since its inception back in 1994, and currently has five more titles in development.
Looking at the Gunfire acquisition, although THQ didn't reveal how much it spent on the Texas-based Darksiders creator, it did explain the move will see it absorb all of the company's intellectual property rights along with its 63-strong team of creative and technical game devs.
Gunfire will remain an independent studio under the THQ Nordic GmbH umbrella, and its team have been tasked with creating "outstanding and unique action adventure games, and online/co-op experiences" for PC, consoles, and virtual reality devices.
Finally, the Goodbye Kansas Game Invest deal was made for roughly $4.4 million, and includes a portfolio of minority investments in five early-stage development studios -- Palindrome Interactive, Fall Damage, Neon Giant, Kavalri, and Framebunker -- as well as royalty rights to THQ Nordic's upcoming game Biomutant.
Commenting on the purchase, THQ chief exec Lars Wingefors said it would provide "a great platform for strategic investments in early-stage companies as well as in established teams starting their own development studios."
All three deals come just months after THQ raised $225 million to finance the purchase of more franchises and game studios.
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