MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Swedish company the Embracer Group has announced another series of acquisitions this morning, including the rights to Middle-Earth, the fictional realm in which stories like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place. In total, all of the acquisitions cost the company $787 million US dollars.
Embracer intends to use their new “vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights” to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien for “motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions”, so we should expect to see them take full advantage of their new intellectual property within the games space before too long.
Other purchases announced today by the Embracer Group are games industry businesses Limited Run Games, Singtrix and Gioteck, as well as studios like Tatsujin, Tuxedo Labs, Tripwire Interactive and Bitwave Games. Embracer has also confirmed that one more big games industry acquisition is in the works, but that it has yet to be announced for commercial reasons.
Tatsujin will be managed by a new operating group called Embracer Freemode, who will be dedicated to managing “the retro, classic, and heritage gaming category, as well as investing in iconic gaming and entertainment properties” for the company overall.
“Today Embracer becomes an even better group. I am pleased to welcome an amazing group of entrepreneur-led companies to the Embracer family and to extend our portfolio with some truly remarkable IPs and franchises, including The Lord of the Rings.” said Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors. “ It is encouraging that our group has become a natural and preferred buyer of creative, growing and profitable companies within Gaming and Entertainment. Several discussions with entrepreneurs now joining have been ongoing for more than three years before the stars aligned today, which underlines the importance of a long-term perspective in building our group.”
Earlier this year the Embracer Group announced plans to purchase western studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal from Japanese publisher Square Enix for around $300 million USD. That acquisition is expected to be approved and finalised by the end of September 2022.
