THQ Nordic has announced they have acquired the rights to the cult classic car combat series, Carmageddon.
“This deal allows Carmageddon to find the home that it deserves”, said Patrick Buckland, Executive Chairman and Founder of Stainless Games. “As an independent developer we have invested a huge amount of time and money into the brand since reacquiring it in 2012, but we have never had the resources to maximise its exploitation. It is our intention to work with THQ Nordic moving forwards, allowing Carmageddon to find its rightful place in the video games pantheon.”
While it’s clear that those involved with the acquisition of this property are quite hyped regarding its potential, nobody is really talking about concrete plans for the future of this series now that it is in THQ Nordic’s hands. We’re going to assume that a new Carmageddon game is in the works in some form or fashion, but we might see a bundle or remaster of some of the original games in the meantime.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Carmageddon series, it’s best to think of it as an even more violent version of Twisted Metal that places a greater emphasis on racing. In fact, the original game was initially banned in Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries due to the way it encouraged players to murder not only their competition but pedestrians and other innocents that they encounter along the way. Indeed, the series has always been defined by its hyper-violence.
To that end, it will be interesting to see what, exactly, the team responsible for any new Carmageddon projects choose to do with this series’ trademark violence. We’re not saying that you can’t – or shouldn’t – release an ultra-violent game in the current climate, but the market for titles that offer little more than extreme violence has been rather thin in recent years. The smart money is on a new game in this series taking a few more cues from Twisted Metal and scratching that itch for a bonafide car combat action game.
In any case, this property should slide nicely into THQ Nordic’s ever-growing portfolio of resurrected video game franchises.