THQ Nordic THQ Nordic has just dropped a few fairly major bombshells regarding games that we’ve been waiting on news for for quite some time: Saints Row V and Dead Island 2, the latter of which I think we’d all assumed was just kind of… done.
As part of a new financial report, the THQ Nordic delivered a few key updates on what we can expect from the company in the next few years. Among these nuggets of info, it was confirmed that developer Volition is returning to work on the first new Saints Row game since 2013’s Saints Row IV.
THQ Nordic THQ Nordic said that the team is “deep in development” on the new Saints Row title, which has been described as a “full entry” (as opposed to the spin off Agents of Chaos). Basically then, we don’t know that it’s called Saints Row V yet, but it is the fifth Saints Row, so we can probably make some assumptions.
Saints Row V was first teased back in May when publisher Deep Silver promised “exciting things ahead for the Saints”, so expect more details on the future of the anarchic crime sim soon, I guess.
Infinitely more shocking than the news that a new Saints Row is in development was the acknowledgement of Dead Island 2, a game which has lingered in development hell since approximately the first recorded syllable of time. Or 2014. One of the two.
Despite the fact everybody has long since moved on from the hope that Dead Island 2 might yet see the light of day, THQ Nordic confirmed that development has now moved to Dambuster Studios, the studio behind 2016’s Homefront: The Revolution, a game that took it upon itself to show the world what mediocre really means.
This is the third studio Dead Island 2 has inflicted itself on. Development originally started at Yager Development, before Sumo Digital took over in 2016. I’ll give you good odds on the game being pinged over to Volition in 2021.
THQ Nordic Elsewhere in the report there was great news for fans of TimeSplitters. Following THQ Nordic’s acquisition of the popular 00’s shooter last year, the company has now confirmed it’s got TimeSplitters co-creator Steven Ellis on board to help shape the future of the franchise.
As per THQ’s report:
Last year Deep Silver acquired the much-loved TimeSplitters IP. We’re delighted to announce that one of the series’ creators, Steve Ellis, has joined us to help plot the future course for this franchise.
THQ Nordic THQ Nordic has been a particularly busy bee of late. In addition to the above titles, we can also expect a remakes of Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom and Destroy All Humans! in the coming months.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.