Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Warhorse Studios bought by THQ Nordic

KazikluBey

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
784
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
They still have our paintings.

Goddamn thieves, gib back our paintings!
Oh, but this statue looks so much better in Stockholm.
1920px-Hercules_fontain_June_2013_02.jpg
 

Deflowerer

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2013
Messages
2,052
The only good game they've ever done is the first Darksiders.

THQ Nordic has barely anything to do with the original THQ. They just bought THQ's IPss during their bankruptcy firesale and rebranded with their name to have a more global appeal. Other than that, the top brass etc is completely different.
 

Simple Simon

Scholar
Joined
Nov 9, 2018
Messages
102
THQ Nordic doesn't have EA's reputation for mismanaging developers so I don't really see this is as a negative. I didn't realize Warhorse had always been subject to a third-party majority shareholder's control but given that information this move certainly makes sense. At least now you are answering to people who have some knowledge of the games industry rather than someone completely divorced from the business who might just see it as an ATM if something bad happens with his/her other investments/interests.
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,175
Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Shouldn't KCd brought more profit than 30m? It sold millions, 2 to 3 times their expectations.

I can understand they agreed to the deal, but 30m seems pretty low for a studio with a million seller on their first try.
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
I can't exactly say I welcome Koch Media/Deep Silver owning them. They stick too much to tradition (i.e Metro Exodus exclusivity deal, Denuvo, no GOG) and aren't really as liberal as THQ Nordic is with how they treat their games.


Shouldn't KCd brought more profit than 30m? It sold millions, 2 to 3 times their expectations.

I can understand they agreed to the deal, but 30m seems pretty low for a studio with a million seller on their first try.
Doing basic napkin math the game is 50€ for each copy, they have announced 2 million game sales and 500,000 DLC sales but no doubt many copies were sold at discounts. Just 50x2mil comes to 100,000,000€, but there's a flat 30% storefront cut, various miscellaneous taxes and some other nonsense of the sort so you can basically take out as much as 50% of that €100m. Of course I won't know the exact numbers and this is just theory, but I honestly don't think KCD made above €80m in revenue so €33m is a fair bit.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,030
THQ Nordic net sales rose 713% to $447.6m in 2018

Publisher now has 77 games in development, including 48 unannounced projects

Growing publisher THQ Nordic has released its interim financial results for 2018, showing dramatic increases across the board.

For the 12 months ended December 31, the company reports net sales of $447.6 million, up an impressive 713% year-on-year from $55.1 million. EBITDA rose by 257% to $105.7 million, while operational EBIT rose 139% to $52.5 million.


As with all THQ Nordic's results this past year, the significant year-on-year increases can largely be attributed to its acquisition of Koch Media/Deep Silver last February, now reaping the revenues from that publisher's titles.

The year's takings were boosted by a particularly strong fourth quarter, with total net sales from games coming in at $59.9 million -- more than each of the previous three quarters, which peaked with net sales of $52.5 million in Q2.

In Q4, THQ Nordic's titles accounted for 64% of the total net sales at $38.2 million, while games from Deep Silver and Coffee Stain generated $20.3 million and $1.5 million respectively.

Total net sales for the whole company in Q4 came in at $149.6m, up 441% from $27.7 million last year. EBITA rose more than doubled to $35.4 million, while operational EBIT rose 84% to $21.1 million.

In his statement, CEO Lars Wingefors described the last three months of 2018 as "a stable quarter with continued growth", and attributed much of the success to the release of Darksiders 3.

He said the game has not only performed within expectations, it has already recouped all the costs of development and marketing. This year, several DLC add-ons will be released to "give the game a further boost", with Darksiders firmly established as "one of the Group's key IPs."

Wingefors notes that Deep Silver had no significant releases during the fourth quarter, but this is largely because it's gearing up for this week's release of Metro Exodus, which he describes as "the Group's biggest release so far."

The CEO added: "We look forward to our most exciting year ever. By the end of the quarter, we had a record 77 games under development. 48 of these are still in the pipeline waiting to be announced, including a few that are scheduled for release in 2019."

The publisher's financial report also gave an insight into the size of the company. By December 31, THQ Nordic employed 1,142 people, up from 233 the previous year -- again, the acquisitions of Deep Silver and Coffee Stain were significant contributors.

It was also working with 1,484 game developers by the end of the quarter, including 613 internal staff and 871 at third-party studios.

Wingefors said the firm will "continue to patiently execute on our M&A strategy", as demonstrated with the announcements that it has acquired Australian publisher 18Point2 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios.

These guys are rising fast.
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,205
Location
Ingrija
THQ Nordic are building a reputation for safe sequels and iterations on old formulas to target established audiences.

Beggars can't be choosers. Would you rather have Ultimas 8s and Fallouts 3s?

I hope they won't bend Vavra's arms into prostrating in front of SJW mob.
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
Shouldn't KCd brought more profit than 30m? It sold millions, 2 to 3 times their expectations.

I can understand they agreed to the deal, but 30m seems pretty low for a studio with a million seller on their first try.
Zdeněk Bakala was major investor and afaik got to own the majority of the company for the purpose of them staying alive during development. They did a deal, and then after not finding a publisher or other major investors they went back to him and offered him a large share in the company to stay alive or something. They talk a little bit about it in the documentary. So I don't think it was up to them.

On the Czech Wikipedia it says he ended up owning 70% of the studio, and likely wanted to cash out: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhorse_Studios
Původně ji vlastnili finančník Zdeněk Bakala (70% podíl) a vývojáři Daniel Vávra (17 %) a Martin Klíma (13 %)
 

Theldaran

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 10, 2015
Messages
1,772
Yeah, why do they need a publisher? It's because of all the payrolls? They could have stayed indie, like Tobyfox, he must be a freaking millionaire by now.

Enviado desde mi Mi A2 Lite mediante Tapatalk
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
Yeah, why do they need a publisher? It's because of all the payrolls? They could have stayed indie, like Tobyfox, he must be a freaking millionaire by now.
Well, things aren't quite that simple. As I said, on my theoretical higher end the game probably made circa €60m not counting DLC for a ~€36m project over the course of 5 years.
I also read a plausible theory on another forum.
Vavra and friends had at best 30% of the total number of shares in the Warhorse Studios. Everything else was sold to various investors to finance the first KCD. The total cost of the game was $36 million and it took 5 years in development. That's a lot of money and a lot of waiting to get paid on your investment. The investors didn't want to wait as the sequel would most likely take as much time if not more to make, especially with Vavra in charge so the pulled out. The DLCs were met with mixed feelings and a lot of the investors lost faith in the project and a possibility for a successful sequel now. Warhorse was sold. The studio was a victim of its own success.
 

evdk

comrade troglodyte :M
Patron
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
11,292
Location
Corona regni Bohemiae
Codex 2012 Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Yeah, why do they need a publisher? It's because of all the payrolls? They could have stayed indie, like Tobyfox, he must be a freaking millionaire by now.

Enviado desde mi Mi A2 Lite mediante Tapatalk
They can't make KCD quality games (yeah, yeah, jank, whatever) without money. As far as I understand it, and Smejki might call me a moron here, they had to give a large share in the company to Bakala to have enough dosh to make the game. That would mean he took a large part of the profits meaning that they could just reinvest everything into the sequel and if he did not want to fund them anymore, they were kinda fucked.

Using tobyfox as an argument here is pretty dumb too, as Undertale was a success on a much bigger scale than KCD and was made by toby alone. It does not really compare.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,530
Location
Kelethin
I knew about 20 years ago that if you spent all your money on graphics, and then no gameplay, just a basic sword swing to hacky hacky people, it would be hugely popular. I predicted Kingdom Come Deliverance long before Whorehouse Studios existed. I predicted Crysis too. And Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and lots of stuff.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,530
Location
Kelethin
It is sort of automated based on my sig.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom