It seems that no developer is totally out of sight of THQ Nordic’s acquiring eyes. German developer Piranha Bytes, creator of ELEX and the Gothic and Risen series, recently became the latest addition to the Austrian publisher’s long list of subsidiaries.
This deal scores THQ Nordic both Piranha’s development studio and IP rights. Piranha CEO Michael Rüve and Head of Games Björn Pankratz will remain in their leadership roles, as will all current owners in the company. In the press release announcing the acquisition, THQ Nordic stated there will be no changes to Piranha’s personnel whatsoever.
Neither company disclosed the purchase price, but THQ Nordic did reveal that it equals three years of what management’s estimated royalty payments to Piranha for upcoming titles would have been if the acquisition had not occurred. It’s probably safe to say that they haven’t used up the $225 million acquisition budget they raised just three months ago.
Piranha isn’t their first acquisition this year and it likely won’t be their last. Not but a week before raising that budget, they acquired Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios for €33.2m. THQ Nordic isn’t sitting on these developers either. By the end of their fourth quarter in 2018, they had a whopping 77 game projects in development. Now? Now they have 80 games in development, 48 of which are still unannounced.
Some of the announced titles we have to look forward to are Biomutant, a hotly anticipated post-apocalyptic kung-fu action RPG, Desperados 3, and Scarf. As the acquisitions pile up, that impressive 80 game development mark may continue increasing as it has since last year.
Biomutant, Desperados 3, and Scarf are all expected to drop sometime this year. The first two will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while Scarf will be a PC exclusive. No exact release dates for any of these titles yet, but with E3 around the corner, we could see some soon.
The post THQ Nordic Acquires Gothic and Risen Developer Piranha Bytes by Brandon Doerrer appeared first on DualShockers.