One of the more surprising results to come from THQ’s bankruptcy auction earlier this year was Nordic Games’ acquisition of the publishing and distribution rights to Double Fine’s Costume Quest and Stacking intellectual properties. Both companies revealed today that those rights have been transferred to Double Fine, however, the exact details of how the deal went down vary somewhat.
“I am pleased that we have regained full control over Costume Quest and Stacking, following a daring and top-secret midnight raid on the Nordic Games headquarters in Vienna,” said Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer.
Lars Wingefors, owner and CEO of Nordic Games, [said] “…I feel compelled to point out that we were happy to transfer distribution rights for Costume Quest and Stacking back to Double Fine in an entirely non-secretive and heist-free manner.”
“Double Fine is dedicated to controlling its own IP, and we will continue working to bring all associated rights back in-house whenever possible,” said Double Fine business development VP Justin Bailey, “no matter how many split-second security system hacks or painstaking tunneling operations we have to execute.”
“I just want to clarify, again, that we support the right of independent developers to control their own distribution, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to work with Double Fine,” said Klemens Kreuzer, Managing Director at Nordic Games. “No heists.”
Regardless of the exact details of the deal/heist, the end result is the same. Double Fine now wholly owns all rights associated with both Costume Quest and Stacking.
As part of today’s announcement the two companies also revealed that they have signed a separate deal that will have Nordic Games publish retail versions of Psychonauts, Stacking, and Costume Quest across North America. The exact platforms that the Double Fine titles will be headed to was not announced, however, all three will arrive sometime “during the first half of 2014.”
