It's been three months since Nordic Games snatched up the rights to "Darksiders," "Red Faction," "Titan Quest," and the acronym heavy "MX vs. ATV" franchises, but the Austrian firm still has a long way to go before any new games are released.
Reinhard Pollice is in charge of product development for Nordic. Speaking with Joystiq, Pollice explained that development on new games in newly-acquired series has stalled out for a few reasons. For starters, THQ is a ghost town.
"There are just like five people and they're mostly financial and administration guys," Pollice explains. "So the stuff that we need is really hard to get." I'm assuming that "stuff" is hard drives full of assets, code, and design documents.
The impending transition into the next generation of consoles is also giving Nordic a bit of pause. "Our strategy for next-fen is that we don't want to rush into anything," Pollice says, explaining that his company would rather wait and see how consumers react before starting development in earnest. Nevertheless, Nordic has been in talks with both Sony and Microsoft and has access to the tools they need to make next-gen games.
Even then, it might be a while before you see your favorite almost-extinct THQ series rise from the ashes like a beautiful sci-fi phoenix. Nordic have prioritized their projects, according to Joystiq: "Darksiders," "MX vs. ATV," "Titan Quest," and "Red Faction," in that order.
It doesn't help that most of the developers that originally worked on these games have either folded or moved on. Most of Vigil Games ("Darksiders") was hired to form Crytek USA, and Volition ("Red Faction") was bought outright by Deep Silver to keep working on "Saints Row IV." THQ Digital Phoenix ("MX vs. ATV") and Iron Lore Entertainment ("Titan Quest") are gone altogether.
And if you happen to be a fan of THQ's quirkier titles -- "Destroy All Humans!," "Lock's Quest," "Frontlines: Fuel of War," or "Stuntman," among others -- don't hold your breath. They weren't even mentioned in the Joystiq, which you can read here.