MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
THQ Nordic-owned subsidiary Koch Media has acquired the Prague-based studio behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Warhorse Studios.
On the first anniversary of Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s release, the companies also confirmed that the game has sold over 2 million copies and "won over 30 media, show and sales awards all around the globe". The acquisition – which includes the development studio as well as all intellectual property rights – is considered "a natural result of the previous successful cooperation between Warhorse Studios and Koch Media".
To celebrate, the team has produced an infographic celebrating the games key milestones:
"Becoming part of THQ Nordic family is an important milestone for our studio. We began as a small start-up with a handful of employees who were enthusiastic enough to join this challenging project," says Martin Fryvaldsky, CEO Warhorse Studios. "The skills of our team members, trust and support of our main investor and passion of our fans, who supported development of Kingdom Come: Deliverance through a Kickstarter campaign, helped us grow to an international level. We believe that backing by THQ Nordic and Koch Media will give us an extra push in our mission to bring exciting games to our customers and extend the frontiers of the gaming industry."
"We are delighted to welcome the team from Warhorse Studios in the Family. The successful cooperation we developed during our journey with Kingdom Come: Deliverance linked both our companies already very closely and I am sure that our now even closer combined knowledge and experience will open up amazing new opportunities for both companies," added Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO Koch Media.
"Warhorse Studios is one of the leading independent studios in Europe and I am proud to welcome them to the THQ Nordic group," concluded Lars Wingefors, CEO of THQ Nordic. "Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which has now sold over 2 million copies, has been a great success since the release exactly one year ago. I look forward to continuing to witness the owners run the studio and drive the creative process for many years."
Kingdom Come: Deliverance initially drew criticism for bugs and performance issues, prompting Warhorse Studios to address the issue in their blogpost, the Weekly Torch. In answer to a question asking about whether he sees Kingdom Come: Deliverance as a AAA game, executive producer Martin Klima said that he thought the game bridged the gap between indie and AAA, but that a AAA game deserved more polish.
"KCD is an attempt of bridging the two: it is an indie game at heart – more hardcore, more demanding, more fierce – but with the visuals and production values of AAA game," Kilma said at the time. "I freely admit though that I wish we had more time to polish the game before the release, that’s what AAA game deserves."
