THQ Nordic Buys Wreckfest and Goat Simulator Developers

THQ Nordic acquires development studios Bugbear Entertainment and Coffee Stain. The former is the creator of demolition derby game Wreckfest and the other is the developer of Goat Simulator.

THQ Nordic has bought ninety percent of the shares of Bugbear and has an option on the remaining ten percent. THQ has been the publisher of Wreckfest since last year and with the acquisition of the studio it now gets all rights to the game and the team of eighteen developers. The amount involved in the acquisition is not disclosed.

Wreckfest has been available through Early Access on Steam since 2014. The final version of the game was released for PC in June this year. A console version was also announced. THQ Nordic recently announced that it will be delayed until 2019.

In addition, THQ Nordic announces it has acquired the developer and publisher of Goat Simulator. THQ pays approximately 31 million euros for Coffee Stain. In addition, THQ will pay a maximum of 39.4 million euros over the next three years if certain goals are achieved. Coffee Stain is currently working on a new game: Satisfactory. It is an open world game in which players have to build factories. The game is also seen as a 3d version of Factorio.

The Swedish company THQ Nordic has made many purchases in the past period. In August, the publisher bought the rights to TimeSplitters and Second Sight. In September, it acquired the rights to Kingdoms of Amalur. In the same month, the publisher also bought the rights to the video game series Alone in the Dark and Act of War. The publisher also signed a deal with Microsoft to release games such as Super Lucky’s Tale and ReCore on Steam. The largest acquisition took place at the beginning of this year, when THQ Nordic acquired publisher Koch Media for 121 million euros.

All acquisitions lead to significant growth for THQ Nordic. This is evident from the presentation of the quarterly figures. In it, the company records a turnover growth of 1403 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Quarterly turnover was 1.27 billion Swedish crowns, approximately 124 million euros.

Wreckfest