European publishing giant THQ Nordic has 20 projects in development that are yet to be announced.
That's according to the firm's financial release, which details 51 games in the works. Of that figure, 17 have been announced, four have begun development while another 10 have been released.
Given THQ Nordic's spending spree, both on talent and IP, as well as its recent acquisition of Deep Silver parent firm Koch Media, this isn't exactly surprising. What these projects might be is unclear, but expect to see a lot of former old-THQ franchises making a return.
A total of 1,257 developers are working on these projects - 565 of these are employed by the firm's own studios, while another 692 are external. This will include work-for-hire outfits like Sumo Digital who are still hard at work on Deep Silver's Dead Island 2.
For the second quarter running, Koch Media is behind the bulk of THQ Nordic's revenue. Net sales for the first six months of this fiscal year are up by a massive 878 per pent to $167.m. Excluding this business, sales are up 67 per cent.
CEO Lars Wingefors (pictured) also calls out digital revenue channels, including subscription models, for providing a greater margin on sales.
"All in all, we had a stable quarter despite no major releases in any business area," Wingefors said in a statement.
"We continue to work on both hard and soft synergies between our companies. The majority of our physical distribution of THQ Nordic in Europe has now moved to Koch Media. Digital back-catalogue sales continued to perform well. New digital revenue channels, such as subscription-based business models, made a notable gross margin contribution to the group.
"There is an increasing excitement about our major upcoming releases, such as Darksiders 3, Metro Exodus and Biomutant. After the end of the quarter we announced the release date and pre-order offering for Darksiders 3. I expect our well invested pipeline of future products, of all sizes, to generate increased revenues and improved profitability over the coming years. We are now working hard to prepare all activities for the biggest event of the year, Gamescom, which opens next week in Cologne, Germany.
"In order to fuel for further business growth and future acquisitions we completed a directed new share issue, raising proceeds of approximately SEK 1,448 m in June. I was pleased with the strong interest from investors and especially happy to see our long-term investors contributing again in the raising of capital, along with a handful of new, highly regarded institutional investors.
"We continue to evaluate interesting investment opportunities in game development projects, potential acquisitions and strategic partnerships that could add considerable long-term value for the group and its shareholders. I have seen an increased interest to become part of our growing independent group of companies, especially after our recently completed transactions. Stay tuned."
