Indie developer Double Fine and publisher Nordic Games have announced a deal that will see the IP rights of the games Stacking and Costume Quest acquired by its creators, several months after Nordic had picked them up from the bankruptcy sale of defunct publisher THQ. The deal will also see Nordic issuing retail releases for both games, as well as Double Fine cult-favourite Pyschonauts.

"I am pleased that we have regained full control over Costume Quest and Stacking, following a daring and top-secret midnight raid on the Nordic Games headquarters in Vienna," said Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer.

"We can't wait to partner with Double Fine for this upcoming retail launch of three of its most excellent games," said Lars Wingefors, owner and CEO of Nordic Games. "However, I feel compelled to point out that we were happy to transfer distribution rights for Costume Quest and Stacking back to Double Fine in an entirely non-secretive and heist-free manner."

"Double Fine is dedicated to controlling its own IP, and we will continue working to bring all associated rights back in-house whenever possible," said Double Fine business development VP Justin Bailey, "no matter how many split-second security system hacks or painstaking tunneling operations we have to execute."

"I just want to clarify, again, that we support the right of independent developers to control their own distribution, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to work with Double Fine," said Klemens Kreuzer, Managing Director at Nordic Games. "No heists."

Psychonauts was originally released at retail in 2005, but for years has been available only through digital distribution. The upcoming retail launch will mark the first time Costume Quest and Stacking have been available as physical releases.

It's always nice to see publishers and developers playing nice with IP rights.

Keep an eye out for the afforementioned retial releases on PC and Mac in early 2014.