Evening digest: THQ Nordic investments, spending in the USA on video games, new DLC for Shovel Knight

Business news (and not only) of the gaming industry for August 29.

Plans

THQ Nordic plans to expand further

The Vienna-based company announced that it will raise $316 million by the end of the current quarter, which it plans to spend on further acquisitions. Moreover, we may not be talking about a number of small transactions, but about one significant purchase.

According to PC Games Insider, now the corporation includes two large groups of companies. One is, in fact, THQ Nordic, and the second is acquired this February for $196 million by Koch Media. And there is a possibility that another large group will join soon.

THQ Nordic has been actively buying up European gaming companies and franchises since 2013. Among her recent purchases are the German studio HandyGames and a series of TimeSplitters shooters.

TimeSplitters

Money

Americans spent $19.5 billion on video games in six months

NPD Group has shared another report on the American gaming market. The company’s analysts estimate that Americans spent $19.5 billion on gaming-related products in six months.

This is 40% more than was spent in the same period a year ago. One of the main drivers of growth was the sale of iron, which turned out to be a record over the past seven years.

All thanks to strong sales of Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and SNES Mini. The last console, we recall, in terms of the number of copies sold, turned out to be the best-selling console in June in the United States.

With the growth of hardware costs, the main revenue still came from software, from games. Americans spent $16.9 billion on them in six months.

Releases

Shovel Knight developers have released DLC with local multiplayer

Independent studio Yacht Club Games has published the fourth and last addition for the retro platformer Shovel Knight — Showdown. It has added a new mode to the game that turns the platformer into a four-player fighting game.

Showdown resembles Super Smash Bros from Nintendo. The characters fight each other in small multi-level arenas both in co-op and in the format of a brawl “every man for himself”.

The owners of the original Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove will receive Showdown for free, the rest will have to pay $ 10. Yacht Club Games also warned that the 3DS version of the game will remain without an add-on.

Published publications

The following materials have also been published on our pages today:

• 5 tools to promote the game
• Yandex has taken up the search for a business development manager of the gaming direction
• The debut stream of Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay has reached the Top 10 of Twitch popularity
• Vacancies of the week (August 29)
• Playgendary has launched two development studios in Russia
• Riot Games are thinking about optimizing the costs of League of Legends tournaments