games gmbh type private industry video game industry founded 2011 ; 5 years ago 2011 founder lars wingefors 1 headquarters vienna austria area served worldwide key people lars wingefors 1 owner lars wingefors 1 number of employees 84 1 2016 parent nordic games group ab divisions grimlore games rainbow studios website thqnordic.com thq nordic gmbh formerly nordic games gmbh is an austrian developer and publisher of video games based in vienna austria . its core portfolio comprises products and brands which were acquired from jowood entertainment and dreamcatcher interactive in 2011 and from thq in 2014 . in 2016 the company reincorporated as thq nordic under the previously acquired thq trademark and logo . contents 1 history 2 upcoming games by thq nordic 3 key franchises ips 4 release history 5 subsidiaries 6 references 7 external links history edit the previous logo of nordic games at the beginning of the 1990s lars wingefors founded a company named lw comics to sell and trade secondhand comic books . in 1993 the focus of that company shifted to video games again starting as a mail order retailer for secondhand software and cartridges finally becoming nordic games . its headquarters is located in karlstad sweden . over the years the company added new goods to its portfolio and established several stores over the finnish and scandinavian area . 2 in 2000 british retailer gameplay.com later renamed to game acquired nordic games for 5.96 million . 3 after the dot com bubble wingefors re acquired the nordic retail division from financially troubled gameplay for 1 swedish krona or 7 pence . 4 in 2004 the company started with a new outlet store concept . in 2008 nordic games entered game development by creating its own publishing branch nordic games publishing in order to create products for its outlet stores . some minor success was the singing game series we sing for the wii console . 2 on 16 august 2011 nordic games holding announced that it had acquired assets from jowood its products and brands including the adventure company . 5 following the acquisition it was announced that jowood and the adventure company will become publishing labels for nordic games gmbh a wholly owned subsidiary of nordic games holding . 6 today nordic games austria is handling most of nordic games releases licensing deals are handled by the swedish nordic games licensing ab . in may 2012 nordic games acquired 55 shops and the online store for sweden and norway from game . 7 in february 2012 nordic games took over the boxed release of alan wake from remedy entertainment for pc . 8 in april 2013 nordic games acquired the remaining properties still owned by the bankrupt american video game publisher thq as part of the company s liquidation including the darksiders red faction and mx vs. atv franchises . nordic plans to find new distribution channels for some of its newly acquired properties and has considered the third party development of new installments . 9 on 12 june 2014 it was also announced that nordic games had acquired the thq trademarks allowing the company to use the thq brand as an imprint on future games . 10 in november it also acquired the rights to the thq series de blob . 11 from atari sa nordic games bought the rights to the desperados series and silver in june 2013 . 12 13 in april 2014 it took over the rights to the adventure series the black mirror from bankrupt german publisher dtp entertainment . 14 it was followed by the acquisition of dtp s licenses for the moment of silence the mystery of the druids and curse of the ghost ship originally created by german developer house of tales as well as the commercial rights for the trademarks overclocked a history of violence and 15 days . 15 16 grimlore games gmbh was first european in house studio of nordic games . 17 the studio began as a developer team in nordic games in 000000002013 12 01 0000december 2013 with key members from former m nich based game development studio coreplay . 18 in 000000002014 10 01 0000october 2014 the limited liability company was founded . 19 according to nordic games the studio will focus on pc games for core gamers specifically the role playing and real time strategy genres . 17 on 000000002014 11 24 0000november 24 2014 nordic games announced that grimlore games is developing the next video game sequel in the spellforce series named spellforce 3 . 17 20 the game is due for release in 2017 . 21 in july 2015 nordic games and piranha bytes announced an upcoming sci fi action rpg known as elex . 22 the following month nordic acquired a number of franchises from bitcomposer interactive including jagged alliance and the great giana sisters . 23 in february 2016 nordic acquired intellectual property from digital reality . 24 on 12 august 2016 nordic games announced that it had changed its name to thq nordic . ceo lars wingefors explained that the thq brand was still widely associated with some of the franchises that it had acquired and this move was intended to give their previously obscure studio better name recognition reflecting a goal to shape our business in a meaningful way going forward using its acquired properties . he went on to state that on a personal note having worked in the industry since 1993 i have a lot of respect for what thq accomplished in the video game marketplace . their licensed and eventually hardcore games portfolio provided a lot of fun to millions of players including me . . he also stated that thq nordic had 23 games in development with many based on former thq properties . 25 upcoming games by thq nordic edit release title platform notes 2017 elex windows playstation 4 xbox one developed by piranha bytes 26 2017 aquanox deep descent windows 27 2017 spellforce 3 windows linux developed by grimlore games 28 2017 the guild 3 windows 2017 battle chasers nightwar windows playstation 4 xbox one ios 29 developed by airship syndicate 30 key franchises ips edit latest release title genre origin 2002 aquanox action acquired from jowood entertainment 2010 the guild life simulation rts acquired from jowood entertainment 2010 legend of kay action adventure acquired from jowood entertainment 2011 arcania action rpg acquired from jowood entertainment 2014 spellforce rts rpg acquired from jowood entertainment 2009 yoga wii fitness game acquired from jowood entertainment 2007 panzer elite simulation acquired from jowood entertainment 2013 painkiller shooter acquired from dreamcatcher interactive 2010 safecracker adventure point and click acquired from dreamcatcher interactive 2007 titan quest action role playing hack and slash acquired from thq 2012 darksiders action adventure hack and slash acquired from thq 2011 red faction shooter acquired from thq 2014 mx vs. atv racing acquired from thq 2008 frontlines fuel of war shooter acquired from thq 2007 juiced racing acquired from thq 2007 stuntman racing action acquired from thq 2008 destroy all humans action adventure acquired from thq 2009 deadly creatures action acquired from thq 2006 full spectrum warrior action acquired from thq 2006 the outfit action acquired from thq 2002 summoner role playing acquired from thq 2011 de blob platform puzzle acquired from thq 2000 silver action role playing hack and slash acquired from atari 31 2005 desperados real time tactics acquired from atari 31 2004 men of valor first person shooter acquired from 2015 inc. 2005 nexus the jupiter incident space combat simulator real time tactics acquired from hd interactive release history edit release title genre platforms note 2012 a vampire tale point and click adventure windows 2012 alan wake action adventure windows boxed version publishing 2012 alan wake s american nightmare action adventure windows boxed version publishing 2011 arcania fall of setarrif action rpg windows finished game acquired from jowood entertainment 2013 arcania the complete tale action rpg xbox 360 ps3 2015 darksiders 2 deathinitive edition action role playing playstation 4 xbox one windows remastered version of darksiders ii 2016 darksiders warmastered edition action role playing playstation 4 xbox one windows wiiu linux remastered version of darksiders 2013 deadfall adventures action windows linux xbox 360 ps3 2012 dungeon lords mmxii rpg windows reworked version of dungeon lords 2015 legend of kay anniversary edition action adventure platformer stealth platform windows wii u mac 32 2014 mx vs. atv supercross racing windows mac linux xbox 360 playstation 3 33 2016 ori and the blind forest action adventure windows acquired pc distribution rights from microsoft 2012 painkiller recurring evil action windows small add on for digital distribution 2012 pc 2013 x360 ps3 painkiller hell & damnation action windows linux mac xbox 360 ps3 2013 the raven legacy of a master thief point and click adventure windows mac linux xbox 360 2012 rochard platformer windows mac linux boxed version 2015 shadowrun chronicles boston lockdown tbs rpg windows release of the boxed version for the game . 34 2014 spellforce 2 demons of the past rts rpg windows expansion pack 2012 spellforce 2 faith in destiny rts rpg windows development completed after acquired from jowood entertainment 2012 the book of unwritten tales adventure windows mac linux steam release 2012 the book of unwritten tales the critter chronicles adventure windows mac linux steam release 2014 the vanishing of ethan carter 35 adventure windows ps4 playstation 4 release in 2015 2015 the book of unwritten tales 2 adventure windows mac linux sequel to the book of unwritten tales 2016 quantum break timeless collector s edition action adventure windows retail version collector s edition publishing subsidiaries edit grimlore games based in munich germany . rainbow studios founded in 1996 based in phoenix arizona . acquired after thq s bankruptcy . 36 references edit a b c d nordic games reincorporates to thq nordic . thq nordic . 12 august 2016 . retrieved 12 august 2016 . a b nordic games group . nordicgamesgroup.com . gameplay.com buys nordic games . this is money . gameplay division sold for 1 . theregister.co.uk . jowood & the adventure company wholly owned labels of nordic games . . nordic games . archived from the original on 17 august 2011 . retrieved 17 august 2011 . nordic games holding ab group acquires jowood & the adventure company . nordic games . 16 august 2011 . archived from the original on 17 august 2011 . retrieved 17 august 2011 . publisher nordic games buys game s scandinavian business . gamesindustry.biz . richard mitchell . alan wake getting boxed pc version from nordic games . engadget . the future of darksiders red faction and thq s other ip at nordic games . polygon . retrieved 23 april 2013 . thq trademark acquired by nordic games . polygon . retrieved 12 june 2014 . mike suszek . nordic officially purchases de blob series from thq . engadget . linken andre 25 june 2013 . nordic games publisher sichert sich die rechte an desperados und silver . gamestar in german . idg . retrieved 25 june 2013 . samit sarkar . nordic games acquires rights to atari s desperados and silver . polygon . black mirror nordic games bernimmt adventure marke . gamestar.de . 11 april 2014 . nordic games gmbh the moment of silence und andere dtp lizenzen gekauft 4players . de . 4players . mike suszek . nordic acquires adventure games from awesomenauts publisher . engadget . a b c grimlore games to develop spellforce 3 . nordic games . retrieved 4 june 2015 . nordic games establishes studio in munich grimlore games developing spellforce 3 company grimlore games . grimlore games . retrieved 4 june 2015 . bersicht grimlore games m nchen overview grimlore games m nich in german . moneyhouse deutschland ag . retrieved 4 june 2015 . projects grimlore games . grimlore games . retrieved 4 june 2015 . spellforce 3 on steam . retrieved 7 july 2016 . elex is the next game from the studio