Wreckfest / Bugbear Acquired by Nordic Games

[Paul Jeffrey]

Wreckfest developers Bigbear Entertainment have been acquired by THQ Nordic in a deal that sees a major boost for the impressive Wreckfest racing game.

Confirmed by THQ Nordic yesterday, the deal will see the Swedish publish take hold of both the development studio and all current and past IP, including the already very impressive Wreckfest title, giving the game additional resources as they look to push on with development and deliver the proposed conversion to console machines in the very near future.

Question marks would be raised when Bugbear confirmed the planned move to console this month would be delayed, causing concern amongst the community that development had stalled once again on a title that has been in various stages of development for a considerable period of time, only reaching version one status on PC earlier this year.

With the resources and finance of THQ Nordic, publishers of Wreckfest since 2017, it looks like the future remains bright for Wreckfest and Bugbear Games..

The full press release can be read below:

THQ Nordic today announced the completion of the acquisition of Bugbear, an experienced and world leading creator of niched racing games built on their proprietary game engine enabled with vehicle destruction physics tools. One of its recent games, Wreckfest, a demolition derby themed racing title, was successfully released for PC on Steam in June 2018 and is currently being developed to be released on consoles during 2019.

Since June 2017, THQ Nordic stepped in as the publisher for the digital distribution channels for Wreckfest, which has been one of the best performing games published by THQ Nordic on Steam since launch.

THQ Nordic strongly believes in Bugbear’s competence in developing successful action racing games and wants to make long term investments to support Bugbear’s future growth journey.
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Wreckfest is available on PC now, with a console release scheduled for sometime in the near future.

Don't forget to check out the RaceDepartment Wreckfest sub forum for the latest news, discussions, events and mods for this awesome racing title.

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[David Wright]

Come on Bugbear - go back to your roots. We want Rally Trophy 2.

 

[KittX]

I really love wreckfest, but one thing I did notice that the liveries of release version became very generic, both the schemes, and the writings on the car.
I follow BugBear from my teenagehood, Rally Trophy is my first love and in my heart forever, and I wish them really best.
I hope though, that they go more mainstreamy with Wreckfest and can allow themselves a second works title which could go slow and steady early access, maybe very limited on content, steam-only, but about rally. And with the tools for creating special stages. That would be heaven.

 

[Jeff Huber]

Is this a good thing? I mean , do we see THQ making this series better? Honest question , because I really don't know.

 

[Boby Kim]

How outrages that they dared to develop a PC version prior to a console version

 

[mclaren777]

THQ now owns three of my favorite IPs.

What a crazy world we live in.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Good news... I guess. I hope.

Bugbear said Wreckfest will get some new content for PC at later point, in form of tracks and cars. I'd suspect that happens around the console release, just porting the extra content for PC that they've been doing for console.

Honestly I'd buy even DLC for this, love the game. Especially could use more tracks.

Mod tracks aren't bad though, there's some real pearls in for example The Very Track Pack (also some really bad ones, but hey)

 

[Rot Teufel]

Come on Bugbear - go back to your roots. We want Rally Trophy 2.

with the actual work on Wreckfest, i was wandering too how it will come RT2. For me it'll be great, it could be done, but i don't think it could have enough audience and people interested....
Until THQ Nordic take under its wing Wreckfest, Bugbear lost user's thrust cause game was still under early access and didn't recive any update... That's the biggest fear imho... my 2 cent.

PS: bit off topic, but i really miss the bonnet going off from rally games like in RT old days (a feature present in Wreckfest and missing in a lot of driving games)

 

[Matthew327]

Is this a good thing? I mean , do we see THQ making this series better? Honest question , because I really don't know.

I think yes. THQ Nordic have done some pretty impressive work on their recent IP acquisitions (see Titan Quest for example, which surprisingly received a new addon almost ten years after release); and they seem to be fairly laissez-faire with their developers in terms of what they want to do.

Essentially, what THQ Nordic are doing is buy up struggling developers and old/derelict IPs that still have a lot of fans, pump some money into them and reap the profits. So really, I think it's a good thing for Wreckfest and Bugbear.

 

[MarcG]

I hope this may push Bugbear devs to at least look into VR support once the console versions are released, Wreckfest is great fun.

 

[Paul Bennett]

Dev blog post here

http://www.wreckfestgame.com/we-have-a-new-home/

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Sounds really good. New cars, new tracks, optimizations, SSAO support, accelerated development on PC too

 

[KittX]

Honestly though, id rather have weather system than new content. Adding rain to that crazy dirt action - double fun!

 

[theravenousbeast]

A rally game with the current modding support in the Wreckfest engine.

BRB have to change underwear.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

The maker of The Very Track Pack just released a new track for Wreckfest, looks pretty sweet:

Included in TVTP. Apparently inspired by roads of Norway where the modder lives in

Edit: Yeah after testing it, great track. Long tarmac road course, with high speed and rich roadside details. Really something unique, compared to even other mods.

People who don't use mods with Wreckfest, really should.. Especially for tracks, The Very Track Pack, Trackfest and few singular tracks (packs seem to be popular method, because it cuts the download size, reusing assets for multiple tracks). Updating is easy with Steam Workshop

It's also hilarious to use modded AI sets, that mix buses, harvesters and every other car into same grid... AI actually tries to race the harvesters, so they aren't as much a problem as in Multiplayer. This game just makes me laugh like no other

 

[north]

Come on Bugbear - go back to your roots. We want Rally Trophy 2.

Made for pc with proper peripheral support so we can use all of our gear. Fully moddable and with triple screen support.
And VR support for the no buyers.

 

[Alex72]

Made for pc with proper peripheral support so we can use all of our gear. Fully moddable and with triple screen support.
And VR support for the no buyers.

This title has triple support? My PC is 1 part away (next week) from going live and i was thinking about getting this.

 

[north]

This title has triple support? My PC is 1 part away (next week) from going live and i was thinking about getting this.

Don't know if you misunderstood my post but I was talking about my wishes for a Rally Trophy 2. I don't know if Wreckfest has proper triple screen support as of today. You can play it on triples but with a stretched image from what I have seen. Someone with Wreckfest and triples can hopefully chime in.

*Edited to clarify*

 

[ShredatorFIN]

This title has triple support? My PC is 1 part away (next week) from going live and i was thinking about getting this.

Not real triple support no. Stretched works fine, HUD and UI centers for it automatically. So, same kind of experience you would get in Dirt Rally etc.

(Playing personally on triples, I choose stretched image over lousy single screen any day)

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

Hope they put it on GOG!