THQ Nordic has purchased Dead Island owner Koch Media

THQ Nordic has snapped up Koch Media in a 121 million euro deal that sees the Darksiders owner get its paws on a number of mega-hit franchises. 

Koch Media is the owner of publishing behemoth Deep Silver, who in turn rules over the likes of Dead Island and Saints Row. Not only does the deal mean that THQ Nordic now has all those IPs under its belt, but it also hoovers up all of Deep Silver’s studios too, such as Volition and Dambuster. 

It’s an interesting development, seeing as how the original incarnation of THQ went under over five years ago resulting in a sale of its various properties, with Deep Silver purchasing Saints Row, Metro, and Homefront (the latter from Crytek). With Nordic Games later snapping up the THQ name in 2013, the studio has now got its hands back on all those major franchises once more. 

According to a press statement from THQ Nordic, the industry giant has no plans to restructure Deep Silver at this point, which hopefully means no jobs are at risk. Furthermore, Koch Media itself will continue to function as a separate entity under the THQ Nordic umbrella, and Deep Silver’s current slate of in-development projects are still moving ahead.

In response to some lacklustre releases in the past (Homefront: Revolution and Agents of Mayhem in particular didn’t pull in the punters) however, THQ Nordic said that it will ‘closely monitor and delegate resources’ to Koch’s games division ‘in order to ensure quality and a healthy return on investment on its large in-house development projects.’

‘Following less successful launches in recent years with substantial write-offs in the business area (primarily Agents of Mayhem and Homefront), Koch Media has made significant organisational changes in its management, internal steering and control, technology, as well as its selection process for development of IPs,’ said the company.

Deep Silver has a number of major titles in the pipeline, including the highly anticipated Metro: Exodus, Shenmue III, and Dead Island 2, the latter of which is still apparently in development despite keeping a low profile as of late.