THQ Nordic Acquires ‘Wreckfest’ Developer Bugbear Entertainment

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Austrian video game publisher THQ Nordic is adding Bugbear Entertainment to its portfolio of studios, it announced on Wednesday.

The acquisition reportedly includes both the developer and all intellectual property rights. Bugbear is a Finnish studio known for niche racing titles like “Rally Trophy,” “Flatout,” and “Ridge Racer Unbounded.” Its latest project, the demolition derby-themed “Wreckfest,” launched on Steam for PC in June. A console release is expected sometime next year. is publishing the game and said it’s been one of its best performing titles on Steam since launch.

“THQ Nordic strongly believes in Bugbear’s competence in developing successful action racing games and wants to make long term investments to support Bugbear’s future growth journey,” the publisher said in a press release.

“Wreckfest” is not the only intellectual property THQ Nordic has acquired in recent months. Deep Silver, one of its subsidiaries, snagged the “TimeSplitters” and “Second Sight” IPs in August. “TimeSplitters” is a trio of first-person shooters from the early 2000s, while “Second Sight” is a science fiction-themed stealth game released in 2004. Both franchises were developed by Free Radical Design.

In September, THQ Nordic snatched up the “Kingdoms of Amalur” IP and other assets from 38 Studios. The deal included the action role-playing game “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” and its abandoned MMORPG project codenamed “Copernicus.” Later that month, the publisher also announced it acquired the intellectual property rights to Lovecraftian survival horror franchise “Alone in the Dark” and real-time strategy game “Act of War” from Atari Europe SAS.