Embracer is taking a note out of its own name by embracing a multitude of studios, like Tripwire Interactive and Limited Run Games, as well as IP ownership over fantasy heavy hitters The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Embracer Group, one of the largest media and video game holding companies, has in total picked up five acquisitions on Thursday, and has even secured a deal with an undisclosed company. The firm's spending spree amounted to a whopping SEK 6 billion ($576 million), according to Embracer's announcement.
The Amazon Lord of the Rings show now finds itself in a rather tricky spot as the official IP rights change hands. For over 50 years, both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings had been owned by a division under The Saul Zaentz Company, called Middle-Earth Enterprises, which has entered into an agreement with Embracer not just for the two mainline stories but also "other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored."
Embracer Group's Lord of the Rings deal also notes that the purchasing rights extend beyond video games and movies, as the firm now has full ownership over everything from merchandising and theme park rights to board games and television opportunities. In its official announcement of the Middle-Earth Enterprise acquisition, Embracer says it may well create and publish "additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien."
Additional acquisitions under Embracer's buying spree include Limited Run Games, a video games distributor out of North Carolina, Tripwire Interactive, developers behind Maneater and Killing Floor, Tuxedo Games, makers of Teardown, and Singtrix, a karaoke technology firm. Embracer also announced today that development on the upcoming PS5 remake for Knights of the Old Republic would be shifted from Aspyr Media to Saber Interactive, allowing it much more promising potential and no delays.
The company has long been on an acquisition spree well before Thursday's elongated list of heavy hitters. Nearly two years prior, the company scooped up 4A Games and the Metro series, with the potential for a multiplayer Metro game on the horizon. In May of this year, Embracer acquired Deus Ex, Thief, Tomb Raider, and more via the purchase of Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal, and Eidos-Montreal.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.Biz published earlier this year, Embracer CEO Lars Wingfors explained that through major M&A the firm is "on a journey" to answer the question, "How much more do we need to grow in order to believe that that ecosystem or platform, however you define it, is strong enough?" He notes that purchasing video game IP rights isn't just about making and publishing video games outright but also leveraging those characters and franchises for alternative media purposes.
