THQ forms studio with ex-DayZ devs for survival shooter

Nine Rocks Games staff have also worked on Soldier of Fortune and Conan series

Embracer Group subsidiary THQ Nordic has formed a new game development studio for a survival shooter game.

Nine Rocks Games was founded in January 2020 and is based in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Its staff has previous experience on titles including DayZ (2018), Soldier of Fortune 3 (2007), Conan (2004) and Chaser (2003),

“We are very much looking forward to setting up shop in our office, gradually optimizing our team size, and getting to work on our project,” said Nine Rocks Games CEO David Durcak (via Gematsu). “With THQ Nordic as a partner, our roster of talent found perfect conditions to collaborate on our first joint project.”

THQ Nordic CEO Klemens Kreuzer added: “I personally think it is always a great sign in business, when everything just seems to fall into place. The right people at the right time having the right mindset and a meaningful conversation… We are very happy to welcome the Slovak team on board and are excited about our first project with Nine Rocks Games.”

Formerly known as THQ Nordic AB, Embracer Group changed its name in September 2019 “to avoid confusion and to clarify group structure” – it’s the parent company of games developers and publishers including THQ Nordic, Koch Media and Coffee Stain.

Embracer acquired Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios in December 2019, as well as Darksiders studio Gunfire Games and MotoGP developer Milestone in August 2019.

It had some 80 games in development at its network of studios as of May 2019.