Nordic Games GmbH was founded in 2011 as part of the Nordic Games Holding

group. Within this group, Nordic Games became a subsidiary of Nordic Games Licensing, which was established in the same year. In June 2011, Nordic Games Holding acquired assets from JoWooD and its affiliate companies DreamCatcher Interactive and The Adventure Company, including their brands and products.

In April 2013, Nordic Games acquired all left-over properties from the bankruptcy auctions of American video game publisher THQ for US$4.9 million. Included in the deal were over 150 individual games, including the Darksiders, Red Faction, and MX vs. ATV franchises. In June 2013, Nordic Games acquired the Desperados franchise, comprising Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive and Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge, as well as the game Silver, from Atari.

In May 2014, Nordic Games acquired the intellectual property for The Moment of Silence, The Mystery of the Druids and Curse of the Ghost Ship, as well as the publishing rights to Overclocked: A History of Violence and 15 Days, from bankrupt German publisher DTP Entertainment.

In August 2015 Nordic Games acquired a number of franchises from bankrupt German publisher bitComposer Entertainment, including the Jagged Alliance franchise. In February 2016, Nordic Games acquired all intellectual property from Hungarian publisher Digital Reality, including Sine Mora.

In August 2016, Nordic Games changed its name to THQ Nordic GmbH

(alongside Nordic Games Licensing AB, which became THQ Nordic AB), utilising the "THQ" trademark the parent company had acquired in June 2014.

In October 2016, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired all intellectual

property and assets from NovaLogic, including Delta Force. In December 2016, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy from Mobile Gaming Studios, as well as Legends of War and War Leaders: Clash of Nations from Enigma Software Productions.

In March 2017 THQ Nordic acquired the in-development Rad Rodgers,

overtaking publishing on behalf of developer Slipgate Studios. In August 2017, THQ Nordic acquired German developer Black Forest Games for €1.35 million and Swedish developer Pieces Interactive for 2.8 million kr. This was followed by the acquisition of Experiment 101, the Swedish developer behind the in-development Biomutant, for 75.3 million kr in November 2017.

In March 2018, after Activision's licence for games on Nickelodeon properties had expired, THQ Nordic announced a partnership with Nickelodeon that would allow them to re-release sixteen Nickelodeon games previously published by THQ. In July 2018, THQ Nordic acquired German mobile game developer-publisher HandyGames for €1 million in cash and a performance-based earn-out of up to €1.5 million. In August 2018, THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired the rights to Second Sight and the TimeSplitters franchise from Crytek. In September, THQ Nordic acquired the intellectual property to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, including the cancelled Project Copernicus, from 38 Studios, as well as Act of War and the Alone in the Dark franchise from Atari. In November 2018, THQ Nordic acquired a 90% stake in Finnish developer Bugbear Entertainment, including all of its intellectual property, for an undisclosed sum, leaving open the option to purchase the remaining 10% at a later point in time. In December 2018, THQ Nordic acquired the Carmageddon franchise from Stainless Games, which itself had bought the franchise in 2011. In January 2019, THQ Nordic acquired the rights to the Outcast franchise from Belgian developer Appeal. In May 2019, the publisher acquired Piranha Bytes. In August 2019, THQ Nordic acquired American developer Gunfire Games, which had worked with THQ Nordic on the release of Darksiders III. Nine Rocks Games, an in-house studio based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and led by David Durcak of DayZ, was established by THQ Nordic in February 2020 to work on "shooter/survival" games. THQ announced the acquisition of Kaiko, Appeal Studios, and Massive Miniteam (Pulheim-based porting studio) in May 2021, along with the creation of distributor THQ Nordic France SAS and animation technical division Gate 21 d.o.o. On February 24, 2022, THQ Nordic announced the acquisition of Frankfurt-based Metricminds, a motion capture and animation studio that has worked on THQ Nordic games like Destroy All Humans! Remake, Darksiders III and Remnant: From the Ashes.