THQ Nordic, the publisher behind games like the critically acclaimed Darksiders series, has announced today that the company has opened a new development studio that will be working on a new Survival Shooter title. Many active members of the studio, Nine Rocks Games, have worked with THQ Nordic on a number of projects in the past, such as DayZ and Conan.
David Durcak, the Creative Director for Conan, will lead the new studio as CEO, claiming the the first order of business is to optimize his new team and begin development on this new title. Considering the new team's previous installments in combination with THQ Nordic, this new Survival Shooter will likely be something in the same vein as the full version of DayZ.
Using much of the same team that worked on DayZ, Nine Rocks Games will be centered in Bratislava, Slovakia once the studio has had enough time to move into its new office and acclimate to partnered life. In a press release on the THQ Nordic website, CEO Klemens Kreuzer commented on the new studio as a welcome new member to the network of studios currently working under THQ Nordic. Considering how many games are under the publishing giant's belt, including highly anticipated titles like Biomutant, THQ's network certainly has a huge number of talented studios and developers at the helm.
Unfortunately, for those looking for a DayZ 2 coming out of this announcement, that title and all associated operations are still owned by Bohemia Interactive. Instead, the new Survival Shooter will likely be a new IP that will be unique to Nine Rocks Games and this brand new partnership. Whatever the title is, with the team behind the award winning DayZ working in it, this is sure to be another high-profile title like the recent console release of Hunt: Showdown.
At the moment, even the Nine Rocks Games website is fairly bare-bones, simply claiming to be a member of the THQ Nordic "family" and requesting visitors to send resumes in order to fill out the studio's growing staff. Hopefully, with so many talented studios the publisher can start pushing games out on a consistent basis, like Biomutant or a new release from the recently acquired Kingdoms of Amalur IP. Regardless of the plans for future games outside of Nine Rocks Games, the new studio has a big name to live up to at the start, however, it was likely a strong pitch that got the Slovakian team into the THQ network.
The Untitled Survival Shooter is currently in development with no announced release window.
Source: THQ Nordic