and that it has hired TimeSplitters co-creator Steve Ellis to “plot the future course” of the TimeSplitters franchise.In the ‘Looking Ahead’ section of THQ Nordic’s latest financial report, CEO Lars Wingefors covered the company’s ongoing projects from some of its many, many studios.
The first full Saint’s Row game since 2013 is being made by creator Volition, and is “deep in development”. It’s a welcome return to the series after the slightly less well-received Agents of Mayhem.
Dead Island 2 might be the most intriguing announcement in the press release, with UK studio Dambuster now taking over development duties. That makes it the third studio to head up the long-awaited sequel. Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager was originally developing the game, but was subsequently removed from the project, with Sumo Digital coming in as a replacement. Seemingly, Sumo has now also been moved off of the project, or shifted to a support role.
Dead Island 2 doesn’t have a scheduled release window, but it is still listed by THQ Nordic as an Xbox One, PS4 and PC game.
TimeSplitters is the most unexpected news, but also the vaguest. THQ Nordic has told us before that it’s ‘figuring out the best first step’ to take with the fan favourite franchise, and it looks like it has taken that step. Today, Wingefors said: “We’re delighted to announce that one of the series’ creators, Steve Ellis, has joined us to help plot the future course for this franchise.”
There’s no indication of what form that future could take, or what studio could take on development – although the aforementioned Dambuster was formed out of the remnants of Free Radical, the original TimeSplitters developer.
Wingefors also announces that Fishlabs – responsible for the Galaxy on Fire series – is working on a new IP and other unannounced projects. The good reaction to Destroy All Humans, SpongeBob – Battle for Bikini Bottom and Darksiders Genesis means THQ Nordic will also “bring new content to the gaming community based on some of the most beloved properties from the THQ Inc portfolio.”
It takes us some way – but certainly not the whole way – towards knowing what makes up the 80 games apparently in development at THQ Nordic right now.
As part of the presentation, THQ Nordic added some new studios to its burgeoning portfolio, announcing the acquisition of Gunfire Games (Darksiders 3), and Milestone (MotoGP, RIDE).
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s UK Deputy Editor, and he played the Yager version of Dead Island 2, and was always a bit confused as to why it was canceled. Follow him on Twitter.
