Brian Renadette September 20th, 2018 - 2:52 AM
THQ Nordic is continuing to build their collection of dormant franchises. The company has announced in a recent tweet that they have acquired the IPs for Alone in the Dark and Act of War, both formerly owned by Atari.
Yesterday, THQ Nordic’s official Twitter posted this tweet:
We are happy to announce that THQ Nordic has acquired the IPs for "Alone in the Dark", a Lovecraftian survival horror game series and "Act of War", a real-time strategy game featuring a story by NYT bestselling author Dale Brown, from Atari. pic.twitter.com/tmjpdI7HjO
— THQNordic (@THQNordic) September 19, 2018
THQ Nordic also said that their Vienna office is in charge of “daily operations (sales and distribution, evaluation of sequels & new content etc.)”. These “daily operations” could include things like updates and an expansion, like with the 2006 game Titan Quest, or a new sequel, like with the Darksiders games.
Alone in the Dark is a series of survival horror games first introduced in 1992 by Infogames for the PC. It was notable for being the first quasi-3D survival horror game ever made. The game and its sequels wound up inspiring many other 3D survival horror games, such as Resident Evil. However, the series struggled in the 21st century. A 2008 action-adventure reboot was not well-received, and the 2015 four-player action game Alone in the Dark: Illumination was highly forgettable.
Act of War, meanwhile, is a 2005 real-time strategy game developed by Eugen Systems. It received a follow-up, Act of Aggression, in 2015. The developers have made a variety of other real-time strategies games, such as R.U.S.E., Steel Division, and Wargame: European Escalation. The company is also recovering from a seven-week strike.
THQ Nordic has been acquiring quite a few dormant franchises lately. Earlier this month, they acquired the IP rights to Kingdoms of Amalur, the flagship game (and only game) of the ill-fated studio 38 Studios, founded by MLB pitcher Curt Schilling in 2006. Back in February, THQ Nordic also bought Koch Media, the owners of the Saints Row IP. Whether or not these new purchases will lead to revivals of old franchises is yet to be seen, but one can always hope.
