THQ Can't Re-Release Kingdoms of Amalur Without EA

Last week, we reported that THQ Nordic decided to surprise the world with the purchase of the Kingdoms of Amalur IP from the now-defunct 38 Studios. No one was quite sure what they planned to do with this semi-popular 2012 RPG, but myself and others suspected that they would try to re-release the game with updated graphics and the like, possibly to reignite interest in the series so they can re-launch the thus far unfinished MMORPG and have a firm place in the MMORPG market.

But it seems I may have jumped the gun on that one, because while the studio has not spoken about their plans with the IP, yet, in an email to Eurogamer, the studio made it clear there were still a few obstacles getting in the way of making a remaster of this particular game: EA.
 

"EA still has the publishing rights to Reckoning. About any other details about the relationship between EA and 38 Studios we can't comment... At this stage we 'only' acquired the intellectual property. Given our track record, we know what the burning questions (remaster, remake, port to current-gen systems etc.) are, but we decided do not answer those specifically as we tend to put our heads together first and then do our homework, and only start to talk about anything once we feel confident and very familiar with the franchise."

Is this a big obstacle? Frankly, no. In fact, EA would probably be thrilled to publish a remake of the game, considering it would come at basically no cost to them and they could wring more money out of an exclusivity deal that they probably regretted getting at the time.

But it’s an obstacle none the less, and the extra cost EA’s involvement will incur might make THQ Nordic try to release the MMORPG straightaway. But that’s all speculation at this point: we’ll have to wait and see.