Black Forest Games’ bosses are becoming owners again. The Destroy All Humans! remake developer has split from THQ Nordic through a management buyout, Rock Paper Shotgun reports. The studio also announced plans to help launch Third Signal, an independent studio group. Source Source
The ownership change doesn’t end the working relationship. The companies say they’ll continue collaborating on game development while pursuing different business priorities. The reports don’t identify which projects that collaboration will involve. Source Source
THQ Nordic acquired the Offenburg, Germany-based studio in August 2017, putting the split roughly nine years into the relationship. During that stretch, Black Forest released 2020’s Destroy All Humans! remake and Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed. For a studio associated with remakes, changing who owns the place is a substantial rewrite. Source Source
Third Signal’s pitch: developers get more room
Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Black Forest’s management team will become a co-owner of Third Signal. The report doesn’t name other member studios or disclose ownership percentages. Source
Third Signal founder Andreas Tobler wants to build a “developer driven group” giving teams “the independence, resources and creative freedom to continue their creative legacy and bring their own ideas to life,” according to the announcement quoted by Rock Paper Shotgun. Source
“We are grateful to THQ Nordic and Embracer for nine good years and the games we made together,” Black Forest co-boss Adrian Goersch said in the announcement quoted by Rock Paper Shotgun. Embracer Group owns THQ Nordic. Goersch also said the team was excited “to shape our own future as owners again” and referred to a new project with partners behind it. Source
Creative freedom is a lovely thing to put in an announcement; it doesn’t tell us what Black Forest is making. The report supplies no title, platforms or release date for Goersch’s new project, and doesn’t establish whether it’s original IP or another return to an existing series. Source
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