Valuable IP’s are a key part of game publisher’s commercial strategies and it seems thatTHQ Nordichas been trading licenses with Koch Media. DespiteTHQ Nordic owning a series of interesting licenses, as well as plenty of old favorites that fans wish would have another installment, it seems that the company is interested in picking up more titles. The trade with publisher Koch Media is unusual but is actually relatively logical when the business is looked at as a whole.
THQ Nordic was founded in 2011 and has since released titles such asDarksiders 3,Wreckfest,andthe company also owns the license to theTimesplittersfranchise. The trading company, Koch Media, also has a range of high profile games through its subsidiary Deep Silver which includesShenmue 3,Saints Row 4,andKingdom Come: Deliverance. With these substantial titles in mind, the trading of IP’s is surprising.
RELATED:Destroy All Humans Remake Gets Release Date in New Trailer
In a tweet,THQ Nordicrevealed that it is giving Koch MediaRed FactionandPainkillerin exchange forSacred,Risen,Rush for Berlin,Second Sight & Singles: Flirt Up Your Life. The reveal was done alongside a Pokemon analogy and it will be interesting to see what fans of these franchises think of the trade. It should be noted that both companies are owned by a parent company called Embracer Group (previously THQ Nordic) and this trade is likely the redistribution of titles to teams who can better handle the properties.
This may mean new development teams or simply different marketing and release teams who will work on the title. Either way, this trade, despite the analogy used, has not seen any titles truly leave the publishers as they all still exist under the Embracer Group.
Many will hope that these trades will lead toalready rumored new games for titles such asRed Faction, yet even in these subsidiaries, there are plenty of titles that could be developed. Many will be interested to see if THQ Nordic actively creates new titles for the IP’s it now has, or if the company focuses on some of its continued licenses that fans have been eager to see.
These publishers have a great track record of releasing quality games andboth seem to have more content on the horizon. Some fans may wonder what will happen to their favorite franchises but it seems that whichever side they have ended up, the titles are in safe and experienced hands.
