THQ Nordic Acquires Warhorse Studios, Developer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Published: February 13, 2019 11:57 AM /

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance

As the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance completes its first anniversary, the developer Warhorse Studios has been acquired by THQ Nordic AB's "indirectly wholly owned subsidiary" Koch Media GmbH. Deep Silver, the publisher of Kingdom Come for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is Koch Media's division for video game publishing. The acquisition includes the development studio and all intellectual property rights.

According to THQ Nordic's official announcement, the purchase price amounts to €33.2 million, about $37.4 million, "on a cash and debt free basis." The announcement also discloses Warhorse’s net revenues in 2018, which amounted to €42 million (about $47.4 million), with an adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of approximately €28 million (about $31.6 million).

Today Warhorse separately announced how well Kingdom Come: Deliverance has done in its first year. The game has sold over 2 million copies, and an additional 500k copies of DLC have been sold.

kingdom come

The acquisition of Warhorse Studios also follows almost exactly one year after THQ Nordic acquired Koch Media last year. After rebranding as THQ Nordic in 2016, the juggernaut company went on to acquire and absorb a slew of developers and IPs, such as Black Forest GamesTimesplitters, Coffee Stain and BugbearDelta Force and F-22 Raptor, Experiment 101 (Biomutant)Kingdoms of Amalur, and even the rights to several classic Nickelodeon games. Most recently before this, they acquired the rights to the Outcast series in January. THQ Nordic's bottomless appetite for acquiring IPs, and, if possible, the studios that developed them, doesn't seem like it will be sated anytime soon.

Lars Wingefors, CEO of THQ Nordic AB, said of the Warhorse Studios acquisition:

Warhorse Studios is one of the leading independent studios in Europe and I am proud to welcome them to the THQ Nordic group. Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which has now sold over 2 million copies, has been a great success since the release exactly one year ago. I look forward to continue working with the founders who will continue managing the studio under strong creative freedom for many years to come.
Martin Fryvaldsky, CEO of Warhorse Studios, was also happy about the deal:
Becoming part of THQ Nordic family is an important milestone for our studio. We began as a small start-up with a handful of employees who were enthusiastic enough to join this challenging project. The skills of our team members, trust and support of our main investor and passion of our fans, who supported development of Kingdom Come: Deliverance through a Kickstarter campaign, helped us grow to an international level. We believe that backing by THQ Nordic and Koch Media will give us an extra push in our mission to bring exciting games to our customers and extend the frontiers of the gaming industry.


Quick Take

In spite of a fairly rocky release, followed by months of updates and patches, the Kingdom Come IP seems firmly established and set for the inevitable sequel, with the first game ending on a less than conclusive note. Hopefully, the acquisition will provide the studio with better conditions for QA in future titles.

What do you think about the acquisition? Is Warhorse Studios a good fit for THQ Nordic's roster of studios? What could be the next IP or studio acquired by THQ Nordic? Let us know in the comments below.

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Richard Costa
| Staff Writer

Hack for hire, indentured egghead, maverick thoughtcriminal. Mainly interested in Western RPGs, first-person immersion, turn-based tactics, point-and-… More about Richard

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Developer
Warhorse Studios
Publisher
Deep Silver
Platforms
Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
Release Date
February 13, 2018 (Calendar)
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