Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming and media holding company that seemed to be on an acquisition splurge in recent years, is undergoing a turbulent restructuring that will see layoffs, several gaming studios closed or sold off, and a few cancellations of games in development.
Just what those games will be is not clear, but the company reportedly plans to reduce third-party publishing and put a greater focus on internal IP along with increasing external funding of large-budget games.
Embracer owns the intellectual property catalog and worldwide rights to films, games, merchandising and more related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit” literary works.
In a webcast session via IGN, interim chief operations officer Matthew Karch says a key to the company’s future lies in “exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion” which includes turning it into “one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world”.
He adds that is a “much better use of resources than some of the other projects that some of our teams have been working on.” Embracer owns developers such as THQ Nordic, Gearbox, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos-Montreal, along with high-profile gaming IPs such as “Tomb Raider,” “Deus Ex” and “Thief”.
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors says in an open letter the restructuring program aims to “make us a leaner, stronger and a more focused, self-sufficient company” and, having acquired some high-profile IP and “one of the largest pipelines of games across the industry,” the plan is to transform “from our current heavy investment mode to a highly cash-flow generative business this year”.
The most recent game based on the ‘Rings’ franchise, “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum” released earlier this year, was a critical disaster. That was developed by Daedalic Entertainment which is owned by Nacon. Another ‘Rings’ game, “Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria,” showed off a trailer at the Xbox Showcase this week.
Meanwhile a new animated film titled “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” screened its first footage at 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week to rave reviews.
Source: VGC
