Embracer Group, formerly THQ Nordic AB, Acquires Eight Companies, Including Those Behind Deep Rock Galactic And Duke Nukem
Elijah Gonzalez
2 min read
The holding company Embracer Group (formerly known as THQ Nordic AB) has announced a new slew of acquisitions, adding seven more studios and an e-commerce outlet to their growing portfolio in a $313 million combined deal. The developers behind Deep Rock Galactic (Ghost Ship Games) and the original Duke Nukem franchise (3D Realms) are among these.
The full list of acquired studios are as follows:
- Ghost Ship Games (Deep Rock Galactic)
- 3D Realms (Development: Duke Nukem series. Publisher: Ion Fury, Ghostrunner, etc.)
- CrazyLabs (various mobile games)
- Slipgate Ironworks (Ghostrunner, Graven)
- Digixart (11-11 Memories Retold, Road 96)
- Force Field (Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Coaster Combat)
- Easy Trigger (Huntdown)
- Grimfrost(E-commerce outlet)
These studios join around 70 others that have been absorbed by Embracer Group in recent years, including Gearbox Software which was acquired along with its parent company in February. Other well-known subsidiaries under the company are Koch Media, Saber Interactive, and Coffee Stain Holding.
The Swedish holding company was founded in 2008 under the name Nordic Games but changed its title to THQ Nordic AB in 2016 following the purchase of the THQ trademark. It has since rebranded again to Embracer Group AB, although it still retains a subsidiary publisher titled THQ Nordic. In an earnings report, the company stated that over the 2020-2021 fiscal year, its net sales were roughly 9 billion SEK or about 1.04 billion USD. This was a 72% increase over the previous fiscal year. These acquisitions mirror a general trend in the game industry towards consolidation, such as when Microsoft acquired Zenimax Media last September.
