In a rather interesting move, THQ Nordic announced it has purchased Koch Media, owner of Saints Row and Metro publisher Deep Silver, in a deal worth 121 million Euro (149 million dollars).
As part of the deal, THQ Nordic gains all of of Deep Silver’s studios such as Volition and Dambuster and Dead Island, as well as Deep Silver’s exclusive rights to the Metro franchise, which is developed by 4A.
Here is some of what THQ Nordic boss Lars Wingefors said about the acquisition:
“Koch Media has a long history of profitability despite losses incurred from some less successful game releases. 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.”
Going forward, Koch Media will operate independently within the THQ Nordic group though it will be closely monitored “in order to ensure quality and a healthy return on investment on its large in-house development projects.”
Interestingly, this deal has something of a circle of life element at play.
Back in 2013 when THQ went under and had to give off the rights to many of its games and even its own name, Deep Silver (and by extension Koch Media) was the one who purchased Saints Row and Metro. At the same time, Nordic Games purchased the THQ name when it purchased up Darksiders, Titan Quest, Supreme Commander, Red Faction and other THQ properties and went on to rebrand itself as THQ Nordic a year later.
With this deal, many of the games that were picked up as part of that fire sale are now under the THQ name once again.
