Austrian publisher Nordic Games is making another move with its properties purchased during THQ liquidation auction: the company returned Darksiders 2 to the Wii U eShop in Europe today as it continues to monitor what business and product development director Reinhard Pollice calls "the Wii U situation."
Pollice told Polygon this morning that Darksiders 2 was pulled from the European Wii U eShop last March prior to Nordic's purchase of the IP. The popular action role-playing hack-and-slash title is still available on the North American eShop. Global manager of PR Philipp Brock added that Nordic does not know why Darksiders 2 was removed from the eShop in the first place.
"The reason to bring it back is that we love Darksiders and some of us are also big fans of Nintendo and their games," Pollice said. "Our goal is to make Darksiders available to as much people as possible."
Currently, Nordic has three former THQ properties on the Wii U eShop: Darksiders 2, now available in North America and Europe, and the North American-only titles Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. When asked if more IP purchased from THQ — which includes franchises like Red Faction and MX vs. ATV — would be brought to the eShop, Pollice suggested that Nordic is currently watching the market around Nintendo's console before making their next move.
"We are carefully watching the WiiU situation, but for now we don't have any more plans about titles other than whats available," he said.
"For the time being we do not have any further plans for other THQ titles, or to extend our current line up to the Nintendo Wii U eShop," added Brock.
Nordic Games — which has a history of purchasing other companies' IP for publication — began working with THQ's IP shortly after the now-dufunct publisher's bankruptcy auctions last April. Nordic purchased a lump of more than 150 individual titles with a $4.9 million bid. In addition to Darksiders, Red Faction and MX vs. ATV, this bundle included Destroy All Humans, Frontlines, Full Spectrum Warrior, Juiced, Stuntman, Supreme Commander and Titan Quest.
"In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles," Lars Wingefors, owner and CEO of Nordic Games Group AB said at the time. "A very important point for us is not to dash into several self-financed multi-million dollar projects right away, but rather to continue our in-depth analysis of all titles and carefully selecting different financing models for developing new installments of acquired IPs."
Last June, Pollice told Polygon that Nordic had begun moving with its newly-acquired IP, with Darksiders, MX and Red Faction high on the company's list of titles to further develop. At the time, the company said it would consider smaller titles, like Deadly Creatures and Titan Quest, for revival on a case-by-case basis.
Nordic made good on its promise in Dec. last year with the announcement of a new in-development MX vs. ATV title, MX vs. ATV Supercross. The game, which Nordic suggests will be downloadable-only and is being made by former MX team members, is slated to launch in the first half of this year for Mac, Linux, PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.