THQ Nordic has opened a new studio with former Bohemia Interactive staff to develop a new survival shooter.

Nine Rock Games, which operates out of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is headed by David Durcak, who is best known for his work as project lead at Bohemia Interactive, the developer behind ArmA and DayZ. In addition to Mr. Durcak, there are other former Bohemia developers and developers who worked at Cauldron on games such as "Soldier of Fortune": Payback, "Conan" (2004), and "Chaser". Bohemia Interactive acquired Cauldron in 2014.

With such a pedigree, it is not surprising that Nine Rock Games' first project would be a survival shooter.

According to Gamesindustry.biz, THQ Nordic's parent company, Embracer Group, has launched quite a few new studios recently. Last month it announced the creation of River End Games in Sweden and C77 Entertainment in Seattle; River End is currently working on a new "deep narrative" game, while C77 has alumni from 343 Studios and EA DICE, among others, and is looking to focus on larger and may be working on a mainstream shooter.

Despite its controversial use of 8chan as a PR venue in 2019, THQ Nordic is doing rather well: it reported a 713% increase in sales from 2019 and generated delicious revenue of €151 million in Q1 2019. Since picking up the THQ name and rebranding from Nordic Games in 2016, the company has released "Kingdoms of Amalur," "TimeSplitters," "Expeditions," "Carmageddon," "Darksiders," "Outcast," Alone in the Dark," "Gothic," and other properties left and right. Embracer Group has also been acquiring studios, most recently acquiring Little Nightmares' Tarsier Studios in December.

More information on Nine Rock Games' first project will be announced in the coming months.