In a transfer introduced late final evening (or early morning in Europe, take your decide), Swedish firm, and now seemingly proprietor of Geekdom, Embracer Group introduced that they had acquired Middle-earth Enterprises. This implies that the corporate now owns the corporate that owns the variation rights for Tolkien’s Legendarium.

Embracer, which additionally owns gaming firms reminiscent of THQ Nordic, Gearbox and Plaion, now owns Middle-earth Enterprises, which licenses out Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit adaptation rights for every part from video games, card video games, motion pictures, TV exhibits and extra. The transfer sees Embracer tackle Middle-earth Enterprises from The Saul Zaentz Company, which has held the film rights to Tolkien’s works for the reason that 70s.

As such, Embracer Group now owns the IP rights to some of the invaluable manufacturers of all time, a model that has spanwed a number of motion pictures, video games, an upcoming Amazon TV present and way more. The value of the acquisition wasn’t disclosed on account of “business causes” per the announcement.

It’s vital to notice right here, although, that this doesn’t give Embracer Group the literary rights over Tolkien’s huge legendarium. The Tolkien Estate nonetheless holds these rights, in addition to HarperCollins, which publishes the books themselves. This means we’re unlikely to see any Silmarillion-themed motion pictures and video games in the intervening time. 

What this implies for current Lord of the Rings video games is pretty clear based mostly on the discharge. There does not appear to be a lot altering. The Lord of the Rings Online will doubtless stay unaffected, in addition to Daedalic’s upcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The just lately introduced LotR recreation being labored on by Private Division and Weta can also be more likely to be untouched and transfer ahead, as Middle-earth Enterprises by no means offered the licesnse for Lord of the Rings to the businesses making these titles, simply turned them into licensees. The firm already owned Asmodee (which owns Fantasy Flight, which has the license for LotR boardgames). 

Embracer reminded everybody too that extra Middle-earth-based stuff is on the best way, together with a Rohan anime, in addition to the Amazon TV present. It additionally teased that it is already pondering of latest methods to leverage the IP.

“Key upcoming works set in Middle-earth, by which Middle-earth Enterprises has monetary pursuits, embrace the much-heralded Amazon sequence The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power which is able to premiere on September 2, 2022, set 1000’s of years earlier than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Warner Bros), set for launch in 2024, and the cell recreation The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth (Electronic Arts).

Other alternatives embrace exploring further motion pictures based mostly on iconic characters reminiscent of Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and different characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and proceed to offer new alternatives for followers to discover this fictive world by merchandising and different experiences.”

The Swedish firm additionally introduced right this moment it was shopping for a number of different firms, together with Tripwire Interactive, Limited Run Games, Tuxedo Labs, and Singtrix.