'Biomutant' Developer Experiment 101 Acquired By THQ Nordic
The Austria-based game publisher has acquired developer Experiment 101, as well as its "Biomutant" IP (intellectual property). The publisher hopes to make the action role-playing game into one of its "major franchises" alongside the SpellForce and Darksiders series.
According to THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors, they saw "significant potential" in the Swedish studio during the early stages of the action RPG's development. The publisher was especially excited about the IP following the strong reception it received at Gamescom 2017 held last August.
Experiment 101 was established in 2015 by Goodbye Kansas Game Invest and Swedish game development veteran Stefan Ljungqvist, a former studio art director and game director at Avalanche Studios. Experiment 101 already worked with THQ Nordic as the publisher for "Biomutant" prior to the acquisition.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
By taking the studio under its wing, THQ doesn't just bring a popular up-and-coming franchise but the talented team behind it as well. Wingefors already highlighted Ljungqvist's role in the company following the acquisition which reportedly cost 75.3 million Swedish Krona ($8.9 million).
"The recruitment of Stefan Ljungqvist and his talented team brings important new power to THQ Nordic," he said. "In addition to continue leading the 'Biomutant' franchise, Stefan will advise on our strategy, future acquisitions and further game development projects."
"Biomutant" features an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. Players take control of a Raccoon-like creature in a world teeming with mutated animals.
Players can customize their character with features such as gender, length, thickness, fur, fangs, and many others. These, in turn, can be tweaked and all have a direct impact on the statistics of their character during gameplay. Players can also alter their abilities using bio-mechanical body parts which give them advantages against various enemies or allow them to traverse different locations with ease.
"Biomutant" is set to be released in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
