THQ Nordic acquires Saints Row, Metro, and Dead Island distributor Koch Media
Callum Leslie
THQ Nordic has purchased games distributor Koch Media, publisher of the Saints Row and Dead Island franchises, in a €121 million ($149 million) deal.
The purchase covers the entire Koch Media business, including Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios. Those studios will continue to operate as they do now, now under the banner of THQ Nordic.
THQ Nordic will now also operate Koch’s film and publishing businesses in Europe. According to the announcement, no restructuring or layoffs are planned as part of the acquisition.
The move reunites some of those titles with the THQ label. The original THQ studio filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and Koch Media purchased Saints Row developer Volition and the Dead Space series, among other properties, in the sale. Nordic Games meanwhile purchased the rights to games like Red Faction and Darksides, and rebranded to THQ Nordic.
The move comes one day after Deep Silver released Kingdom Come: Deliverance to a strong response from players and critics alike.
“Koch Media has a long history of profitability despite losses incurred from some less successful game releases,” Wingefors said. “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.”
Metro Exodus was announced in June 2017, and is expected to be released in fall 2018. The studio also has a number of other titles, including Dakar 18 and Shenmue III, in the pipeline for 2018.
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