When THQ Nordic announced last week that it was acquiring 38 Studios’ castoffs – Kingdoms of Amalur and MMORPG Project Copernicus – the news was almost buried by the wild pile of other breaking news we had that day, even for people who remember Copernicus and what an impressive MMO it was shaping up to be before the company went bankrupt, engulfed in scandal. Since then, MMO players have been wondering just what THQ is plotting – since the MMO was apparently fairly far along in development, might THQ finish it off and release it?
There may be some clues in a Venture Beat interview with THQ Nordic business and product development director Reinhard Pollice released yesterday. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Project Copernicus isn’t even mentioned outside of an oblique reference to the MMO from R.A. Salvatore.
It sounds from the interview as if THQ was primarily interested in the Amalur IP itself both before and after the scandal’s “dust settled” in 2017, and it’s considering new RPGs within the franchise, or even a remaster as VB suggests, though nothing’s set in stone just yet. That’s apparently partly because the RPG originated there.
“Interestingly enough, Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning started out life at old THQ, as the studio was part of THQ. Back then the project was called Crucible or Project Ascendant […] When THQ sold the studio, the project was heavily reworked to fit Amalur.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean THQ won’t do something with Copernicus, just that the IP seems to be the focal point. There’s certainly more hope now than before.
