Late last week, Bugbear became one of the latest companies acquired by THQ Nordic. Bugbear created Wreckfest, the demolition derby game that spent a long while in Early Access. The game only seemed to gain momentum towards release after THQ Nordic came on as a publisher. In an open letter to fans posted to their website today, the company gave exact reasoning why the relationship between the two parties pointed towards a merger.
“All the way since THQ Nordic jumped in as a publisher for Wreckfest, we’ve had a mutually beneficial relationship with them… in many ways becoming part of the THQ Nordic’s stable of incredibly talented teams felt like a natural move for us.”
The biggest reason given for the move seems to be the limits of being an independent developer, especially considering its grand ambitions. Bugbear spoke freely about its future plans under the new banner by stating that it looks “forward to building Wreckfest into a major racing franchise and a worldwide force to be reckoned with!”
As for Wreckfest‘s future, Bugbear reported that features like optimized performance and Quick Play functionality in online multiplayer are on their way. On the technical side, Bugbear will add Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion to the graphics options. The developer also promised a pipeline of new content coming for the game, which includes a number of new vehicles and tracks in the near future.
Bugbear set up shop 18 years ago, coming to prominence with the FlatOut series starting in 2004. They also worked on Ridge Racer Unbounded, an overlooked entry in Namco Bandai’s arcade racing franchise. The game that would become Wreckfest premiered as Next Car Game in a failed Kickstarter. It eventually found success on Steam’s Early Access program and released in full on PC in June. The game is supposed to come out on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2019.
