130°

Embracer Group enters into agreement to acquire IP rights to LOTR & Hobbit literary works by Tolkien

Embracer Group AB (”Embracer”), through its wholly owned subsidiary Freemode, has entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns a vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions relating to the iconic fantasy literary works The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored.

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embracer.com
Orchard1247d ago

Embracer are literally buying up tons of companies every few months. Crazy.

darthv721247d ago

Add in LRG and Tatsujin (Toaplan)... they got their hands in cookie jars around the world.

darthv721247d ago

...and Koei Tecmo perhaps

MadLad1247d ago (Edited 1247d ago )

This LOTR acquisition is really out of the blue but, as far as games go, they've basically stated they're not looking to make many one hundred million dollar AAA projects.
I doubt they'll go after big name AAA publishing houses any time soon.

Who is to say though? Like I said, this latest acquisition was out of nowhere. Maybe they're ramping up their visions.

Profchaos1247d ago (Edited 1247d ago )

Woah they seem to care about quality to founded by self professed nerds instead of bean counters I think we're in safe hands

Sgt_Slaughter1247d ago

They also acquired Limited Run Games, they are on another rampage

GoodGuy091247d ago

Embracer getting stronger and stronger lol.

gamer78041247d ago

Hopefully they don’t screw it up like Amazon

MadLad1247d ago

Amazon know nothing about game development, grabbed a handful of industry vets to run unproven studios and thought gold would happen.
Many couldn't even manage to bring a game to market.

Embracer is what happens when a bunch of rich game nerds decide to start a company. Seems like they have a good understanding of the teams they buy, their IP, and what changes need to happen for them to thrive.
They got 3D Realms back on their feet. They knew to get Randy Pitchford out of the spotlight when they acquired Gearbox, even though he started the company.
People get worried when people start buying up the industry, but Embracer is one of just a couple companies that don't currently worry me when doing so.

If nothing else, every developer and IP they buy is one that doesn't go to Tencent and EPIC, so that can only be a net positive.

gamer78041246d ago

You are right but I was referring to the most expensive train wreck of a tv show to ever be created. Rings of power

MadLad1246d ago

I couldn't say there.
As far as I know, this is Embracer's first acquisition where they now have a large, majorly known IP that they could viably make use of in mediums outside of videogames.

They've been doing well, both financially and for their consumers, in the videogame space. Hopefully that can be said the same if they really are attempting to get into the film and TV market.

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60°

Rockstar launches official marketplace for mods

Rockstar has launched an official marketplace for "every server and every player" to buy mods: Cfx Marketplace.

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gamesindustry.biz
Christopher2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I wonder how much of this isn't just taken work of others who have modded for free.

Edit: Also, great way for R* to take popular ideas and build them into GTAVI based on demand.

fr0sty6h ago

What I see happening here is, R* is going to ban mods in GTA6 UNLESS you buy them from the marketplace and R* then gets a cut of that sale.

ActualWhiteMan9h ago

Ah, perfect timing with them taking down the Bully online fan mod. Greedy a$$ company.

Christopher6h ago

It's okay as long as they get a cut of the money.

fr0sty6h ago

Expect R* to force it on you.

Snookies1227m ago

Yep, right there with you. I'll happily donate to a mod creator if it looks really cool, or if I enjoy it. But expecting payment up front? Nope, not touching it.

IanTH5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

I'm not entirely sure how to read this, as it doesn't seem exactly like an exact parallel to Bethesda's paid mods shenanigans.

Rather than single player stuff, this appears to be aimed solely on Cfx Servers. From what I've gleaned, apparently Rockstar bought the Cfx mod team several years ago, coming a few years after weird contentions led them to ban a few of their members. Ultimately, the question is if they plan to keep this contained to only online/servers.

I have to guess to a degree yes. It'd be pretty hard to "force" paid mods for single player when modding files locally on your own machine, but much easier for servers they'll control. So perhaps this is their soft launch ahead of GTA6 online and they'll clamp down more tightly on non-official servers going forward? Ever since they've become a 1 or 2 property studio, I haven't really cared much for Rockstar stuff, so I'm not entirely up on everything surrounding this. Sounds like it has the potential to be problematic further down the line, but right now fairly easy to ignore...I think lol.

50°

Kotick claims lawsuit objecting to MS-Activision deal was "tied to Embracer's desire to boost sales"

Former CEO describes lawsuit filed by Swedish pension fund as a "collateral attack" on Activision Blizzard.

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gamesindustry.biz
OpenGL1d 2h ago

Yeah, the Microsoft deal has DEFINITELY worked out for everyone.

galgor23h ago

Can this mother fucker just get lost already

PRIMORDUS22h ago

He belongs in here ⚰️, hopefully sooner than later.

MrDead7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Kotick Made $155 million from MS in the buyout, the little b*tch needs to stop whining. Thanks to this Microslop deal and massive industry consolidation thousands upon thousands of devs and other workers lost their livelihoods. This greedy piggie pervert needs shut up and f-off.

40°

An Update to Our Shared Commitment to Safer Gaming

Discover how Sony Interactive Entertainment, Nintendo, and Microsoft continue to collaborate to improve player safety across our platforms.

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sonyinteractive.com