THQ Nordic will be busy with some old series likely over the next couple of years. In a press release to investors, the company announced not only that development of Dead Island 2 would be handed over to Dambuster Studios (effectively making the developer the third one to work on the game), but it looks like Volition is hard at work with what we assume is Saint’s Row V.
Dead Island 2 was originally announced at E3 in 2014, and it has been in development hell ever since. The original developer of Dead Island, Techland, was scheduled to create the game back in 2012, but they left the project to Yager Development in order to focus on the upcoming Dying Light 2. Yager would take the reins for a few years before the development team left due to diverging visions for the game from publisher Deep Silver. Sumo Digital, at least partially responsible for games ranging from the Forza and Forza Horizon series to Hitman and Mortal Kombat, was announced as the new developer in 2016. With another change of hands, it’s impossible to tell when this game may come out, or if it will even have the same premise as we saw in early demos in 2014.
In contrast, the development of the next Saint’s Row game has flown under the radar for the most part. After the release of Saint’s Row IV around this time in 2013, the Volition team dedicated itself to an expansion for the game that included an epilogue, as well as Agents of Mayhem, a game sharing the same universe as Saint’s Row. According to THQ Nordic, development of the next main addition to the series is well underway. When we can expect it is anyone’s guess, but it’s sure to be a great return to form for Volition.
In addition to these titles, THQ Nordic has other balls in the air, such as TimeSplitters, Spongebob – Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, a remake of Destroy all Humans!, Biomutant, and Darksiders Genesis. The latter three are coming sooner rather than later, and you can check out our first impressions of the games from E3 here. THQ Nordic is full steam ahead, and they’re going to try and revitalize some old franchises with the momentum.
