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THQ Nordic and Koch Media swap some of their IPs, such as Risen and Red Faction

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Two large game publishers have exchanged some of their intellectual properties, leading to game franchises changing hands between Koch Media and THQ Nordic. Risen, Sacred, Rush for Berlin, Second Sight, and Singles: Flirt Up Your Life will be now be owned by THQ Nordic, in exchange for Red Faction and Painkiller, which now belong to Koch. The trade allows for some older games to go back to their original developers, such is the case with Red Faction, which was originally created by Volition, a subsidiary of Koch Media, and Risen, which has returned to THQ Nordic's studio Piranha Bytes, also the creator of that franchise.

Risen, Sacred, Rush for Berlin, Second Sight and Singles: Flirt Up Your Life will join THQ Nordic’s treasure cove of publishing IPs
Red Faction and Painkiller will become part of Koch Media’s publishing portfolio

Vienna, AUSTRIA, May 5h, 2020 – Just because several sports leagues have to take an understandable break from their daily business, there is still room for news on the international transfer market of intellectual properties: THQ Nordic and Koch Media today set up shop for swapping publishing rights for some of their respective intellectual properties.

  • From Koch Media to THQ Nordic: Risen, Sacred, Rush for Berlin, Second Sight and Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
The warmest of welcomes to Risen, (now THQ Nordic unifies all Piranha Bytes titles under one roof), Sacred (some of us invested more time than they would like to admit), Rush for Berlin, Second Sight and Singles: Flirt Up your Life. Evaluations on remasters, ports, potential sequels & new content etc. will start right away. We have something in mind already.

  • From THQ Nordic to Koch Media: Red Faction, Painkiller


Farewell, Painkiller!

Hell & Damnation was just an all around awesome project to work on. It is hard to believe that it was already 8 years ago for Daniel Garner and actually marked our (then: Nordic Games) first big title. What we had was truly special and although we made a lot of mistakes, we also did a lot of really awesome stuff when we published you. Unfortunately, though, today marks the day where we will let you go. We know you will get a lot of love in your new home.



Farewell, Red Faction!

We loved working on Re-Mars-tered (yes, we do have a certain reputation for corny names for remasters, and we are damn proud of it), but the time has come to put our sledgehammers on the shelf. Live long and prosper!



About Risen

Risen is a third-person action RPG created by Piranha Bytes. Risen is considered a spiritual successor to the Gothic series, and a spiritual predecessor of ELEX



About Sacred

The Sacred series is a hack and slash RPG series and is reminiscent of Diablo. Same concept: level, loot, perfecting your character.



About Rush for Berlin

Rush for Berlin is a real-time tactics game set in World War II. In the contest for the German capital Berlin, the player must fight with the American, British, French, and Soviet armies.



About Second Sight

Second Sight is a science fiction action-adventure stealth video game, featuring a protagonist with memory of their past and psychic abilities.



About Singles: Flirt Up Your Life

Singles: Flirt Up Your Life is a Life (and love life) simulation game from the early 2000s.


Next Steps for the Gothic Remake

THQ Nordic will establish a new studio based in Barcelona, Spain, and will then assess what players liked and what they want to be different than in the playable teaser. One of the most common mentions was for example the demand for a grittier and less colourful world.

Here is an example of how this could be tweaked:



"We are up for the challenge to develop a full Gothic Remake which will stay as faithfully as possible to the original experience and transport the atmospheric world of Gothic into a high quality look and carefully modernizing certain gameplay mechanics." says Reinhard Pollice Business and Product Development Director at THQ Nordic.



The full Gothic Remake will go into production and will be developed for PC and next gen consoles. There is no release window available yet, but it will not be coming in 2020.
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:arrow: Source
 
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D

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Doesn't THQ Nordic own Koch? Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with how that all works, but it seems a bit weird
 
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masagrator

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kikongokiller said:
Doesn't THQ Nordic own Koch? Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with how that all works, but it seems a bit weird
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Nope. It's owned by Embracer Group, which was known earlier as THQ Nordic AB. THQ Nordic and THQ Nordic AB are different entities (Koch Media and THQ Nordic are subsidiaries of Embracer Group).
 
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pedro702

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hopefully it was koch media requesting the trade which means we might get a new red faction game, or atleast a remaster of armagedon, and maybe a collection of sorts for painkiller series, now thq nordic i mean they can remaster second sight which is a great game and maybe the sacred 1 and 2 but the rest just doesnt seem worthy to do anything with it, io dont see any games besides this 3 make any money tbh.
 
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XDel said:
I still swear by the first Red Faction game.
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yeah to me the first red faction was by far the best, it had that half life vive where the map never ends you just keep going and going, its not level to level, the game was fun as hell, second tryed to be a random cod type of game with scripted destruction and levels so it was crap, guerrila was nice even tough it didnt felt like red faction to me, i want more of that half life never ending map tipe of deal, the weakest part is there were scripted inside doors missions it was all on the overworld and whatnot if they added those it would have been nice imo but still a decent game, armagedon they tryed to combine the 2 types and failled miserably.
 
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pedro702 said:
yeah to me the first red faction was by far the best, it had that half life vive where the map never ends you just keep going and going, its not level to level, the game was fun as hell, second tryed to be a random cod type of game with scripted destruction and levels so it was crap, guerrila was nice even tough it didnt felt like red faction to me, i want more of that half life never ending map tipe of deal, the weakest part is there were scripted inside doors missions it was all on the overworld and whatnot if they added those it would have been nice imo but still a decent game, armagedon they tryed to combine the 2 types and failled miserably.
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My thoughts exactly, the first reminded me of Half-Life quite a bit, I am shocked that it took me so long to get to it. Part 2 on the other hand...
...well I'll just say that it and Unreal 2 had a lot in common, except Unreal 2 actually began to get kind of interesting during the last hour or two of game play... kind of. I am not even sure why I bothered playing all the way through Red Faction 2, but I did. Never played one since, though I heard the one ported to the Switch is worth trying, so I may do that.

Anyhow, here's to hoping the series returns to form!
 
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pedro702 said:
red faction ip outsold every game on this deal grouped together so yeah its very easy to see who came on top imo xD
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The Red Faction series are bargain bin games, they don't ever hold value after launch.
That's why I said there isn't a clear winner, all these series are B tier games at best and D or F tier at worst. =/
 
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Nope. It's owned by Embracer Group, which was known earlier as THQ Nordic AB. THQ Nordic and THQ Nordic AB are different entities (Koch Media and THQ Nordic are subsidiaries of Embracer Group).
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That sure is confusing as heck, but power to them I guess
 
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pedro702 said:
hopefully it was koch media requesting the trade which means we might get a new red faction game, or atleast a remaster of armagedon, and maybe a collection of sorts for painkiller series, now thq nordic i mean they can remaster second sight which is a great game and maybe the sacred 1 and 2 but the rest just doesnt seem worthy to do anything with it, io dont see any games besides this 3 make any money tbh.
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Isn't Painkiller already in a collection. Painkiller Overdose, or something? I liked the first one, though it was a bit too linear. But mindless entertainment nevertheless.
 
campbell0505

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Is Koch Media a developer or publisher? Because I was looking at Saints Row 4 yesterday on the eshop, and it said "Koch Media" but I thought the saints row games were made by Volition or Deep Silver?
 
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eyeliner said:
Isn't Painkiller already in a collection. Painkiller Overdose, or something? I liked the first one, though it was a bit too linear. But mindless entertainment nevertheless.
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there is a ps3/xbox360 release that has the first painkiller and the first expansion but not the rest.

deinonychus71 said:
Timesplitters collection. When.
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aparently its deep silver that has the timesplitters right so you have to ask them.
 

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