The Embracer Group, owners of THQ Nordic, have today announced the acquisition of several video games studios, which includes a 100% stake in the esteemed developer of the Metro FPS series, 4A Games.
It marks a continued expansion into the video game industry for THQ Nordic, a publisher that only a year ago claimed to have 80 games in simultaneous development. The caliber of 4A Games is such that it should now arguably be considered publisher’s flagship studio.
Matt Karch, CEO Saber Interactive Inc., Director of the Embracer Board said in a statement:
“With the acquisition of 4A Games, Saber Interactive is locking-up one of the best indie studios in the industry with the potential and capacity to take on another AAA project and are also internalizing the value of existing and future IPs into the Group.
Saber solidifies its position as a leader in the CIS and Ukrainian game developer market. Combining our technology and capabilities with 4A Games presents tremendous opportunity for growth and expansion.”
Dean Sharpe, CEO 4A Games also weighed in:
“Embracer Group and Saber Interactive are the perfect partners for 4A Games and for our next phase of growth. Together we will continue to build on the Metro franchise and will focus on bringing a multiplayer experience to our fanbase. We look forward to building a new and even more ambitious AAA IP in the near future.”
Metro Exodus was the studios’ last game, which Twinfinite scored 4/5 in its review.
4A Games is only one of several studios joining the Embracer Group (and therefore THQ Nordic) today. Amplifier Game Invest, another wholly owned subsidiary of the Embracer Group, also acquired 100% of Rare Earth Games, Palindrome Interactive, Vermilia Studios, Pow Wow Entertainment, New World Entertainment, and Deca Games.
Below are excerpts from several different Embracer Group press releases that briefly summarize each studios’ resume and future projects.
- Rare Earth Games with a team of highly experienced industry veterans. The acquisition marks the first investment by Amplifier Game Invest in Austria. Rare Earth Games focus on action-packed multiplayer game titles for PC, Consoles and Cloud services.
- Palindrome Interactive has been partially owned by Amplifier Game Invest since 2017 and is currently in the process of releasing their first game, Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars, on 28 August, on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
- Amplifier Game Invest acquires 100% of the shares in Vermila Studios, currently working on their first production, Crisol: Theater of Idols. The game is a first-person horror adventure set in the town of Tormentosa, a Hispanian village with an ancient past, with captivating visuals based on warm Spanish red and gold colors.
- Pow Wow Entertainment was founded in 2019 by Milo Gutmann and Jerome Amouyal and is based in Vienna, Austria. The studio currently employs 20 developers with AAA and GaaS experience. The team focuses on developing original IPs for PC and consoles with the goal to create entertainment brands with a strong culture of community-driven development and tools for user-generated content. Currently, the team is working on two unannounced games of which one on an existing THQ Nordic-owned IP and the other will be a roguelike multiplayer platformer set on a constantly changing world.
- New World Entertainment has released three proprietary PC titles, developed a dedicated fanbase of more than 10 million gamers and is working with an exciting project pipeline with the potential to achieve AAA results in the marketplace. The purchase price will not be disclosed.
- DECA Games, founded by Ken Go, who is also the seller, is a mobile asset care and live operations (“LiveOps”) expert within the Free-to-Play (“FTP”) games segment.
