Embracer Group is now owned by Lord of the Rings! Mega deal with umpteen acquisitions
Shortly before gamescom 2022, those responsible for the Embracer Group (THQ Nordic, Plaion (formerly Koch Media)) announce a mega-acquisition involving eight (!) different companies. Also present: Middle-earth Enterprises and the important licenses for the “Lord of the Rings” universe.
Today, August 18, 2022, it was worth visiting the Press page of the Embracer Group. Within a very short time, nine press releases went online there in the morning. And anyone who has been following the Swedish media group since 2019 will probably already have an idea of what was going on: A lot of money was spent to acquire several companies at once. Eight to be exact. On the other hand, it works Triple coup from December 2021 or the youngest Acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal and Eidos Montreal in May 2022 almost like a warm-up run.
What happened?
We have dug through the various press releases and summarize the most important things about the new acquisitions of the Embracer Group below.
- With Middle-earth Enterprises The Embracer Group acquired a division of Saul Zaentz Company, which owns an extensive intellectual property catalog and worldwide rights in motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandise, theme parks and stage productions related to the fantasy fiction works “The Lord of the Rings ” and “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien. In addition, there are corresponding rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins.
- Among the most important upcoming works set in Middle-earth and on which Middle-earth Enterprises Financial stakes include the Amazon series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Warner Bros), which is slated for release in 2024, and the mobile game The Lord of the Rings Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth” by Electronic Arts.
- With Tuxedo Labs you could completely take over the Swedish studio behind Teardown.
- With Tripwire Interactive one could completely take over a US developer and publisher known for games like Maneater, Rising Storm or Killing Floor.
- You could see the company sing trix Los Angeles-based Singtrix is an award-winning manufacturer of industry-leading vocal processing effects technology for karaoke, gaming and entertainment.
- The publisher now also belongs to the Embracer Group Limited run gameswhich has distributed more than 1,000 digital and physical games to date.
- The company now also owns Bitwave Gamesa Swedish studio focused on developing and publishing retro games.
- The companies Gioteck (“one of the leading European brands for gaming accessories”) and Tatsujin (Embracer’s first studio in Japan to have access to the rights to the Toaplan catalogue owns) complete the Mega Acquisition.
- Overall, the Embracer Group for the acquisitions about $770 million taken in hand.
Freemode and financial report
At the same time, those responsible for the Embracer Group announced the founding of Embracer Freemode (“Freemode”), an operating group composed of certain gaming and entertainment companies owned by Embracer (source). The newly formed operating group focuses on six broad and diverse market segments including: Retro/Classic/Heritage Gaming & Entertainment, Game Development & Production, Devices, Gear & Collectables, Community & E-Commerce, New Idea & Technology Incubation and Production services.
The was also published Financial report for the months of April to June 2022. Net sales rose 107 percent, with mobile in particular making the biggest jump (up 104 percent). It looks less good when it comes to income, which has fallen by 21 percent.
For the financial year 22/23, those responsible expect organic growth of 20 to 35 percent. The fourth quarter of the year should also be supported by the release of a AAA game that has not yet been announced. A total of 25 AAA games are said to be currently in development. By the way, you can admire some of the upcoming innovations from THQ Nordic, Plaion (formerly Koch Media), HandyGames and Co. at gamescom 2022. The Embracer Group will be by far the largest exhibitor at the exhibition center.
Reference-www.buffed.de