THQ Nordic Buys 'Saints Row,' 'Metro,' 'Dead Island' Owner, Koch Media
The band is finally back together with THQ Nordic announcing that they have acquired Koch Media, which owns the "Saints Row," "Metro," and "Dead Island" franchises, in a €121 million deal. In short, the company now owns the brands that the old THQ sold off after it filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
The video game franchises are currently run by a number of Koch Media's subsidiaries namely Deep Silver for "Dead Island" and "Metro," Volition for "Saints Row," and Dambuster Studios for "Homefront: The Revolution." Following the acquisition, these studios and publishers are now under the THQ Nordic umbrella.
The franchises were previously held under the THQ banner prior to the company auctioning off its intellectual properties in 2013. Koch Media purchased "Saints Row" developer Volition and the "Metro" property at auction while "Homefront" was previously bought by Crytek before selling it to Koch.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Nordic, on the other hand, managed to purchase "Darksiders," "Red Faction" and the "MX" series. The company later managed to acquire the THQ trademark and rebranded themselves as THQ Nordic.
The acquisition not only brings in THQ's former franchises, it also expanded the company to 1,600 across a combined 36 internal and external studios. The company now also own 106 intellectual properties such as the aforementioned titles as well as "Agents of Mayhem," "Risen" and "Galaxy on Fire."
There are currently no plans for restructuring nor will the new owners implement any cost-saving measures. This is good news for the employees Koch Media as this suggests that the possibility of layoffs is unlikely.
Koch Media will still operate as a separate entity under THQ Nordic. Also, the names of both operational companies, including its publishing units Deep Silver and THQ Nordic, will remain unchanged.
Both companies also have 50 games in development between them although it's currently unknown if all will survive the cut following the merger.
