Embracer bought Lord of the Rings rights for just $395 million

Sounds almost like a bargain

Embracer Group, the gaming giant from Sweden, has purchased the rights for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for a mere $395 million, the company’s annual financial report states. That is far below estimations made back in February 2022, when it became public knowledge that the rights were to be sold, which put their value at around $2 billion.

The package of IP rights Embracer bought spans video games, board games, movies, theme parks, and more. The company recently stated it had to “exploit” Lord of the Rings a lot more to make that costly investment worthwhile – a movie deal with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. as well as a deal with Amazon Games about the development of a Lord of the Rings MMO were likely only the start of that.

Embracer’s report promises “several world class products” across all forms of entertainment using Tolkien’s works as a basis over the next twenty years.

For now, though, the company is putting its hopes into the releases of Payday 3, Remnant 2, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, which are the big upcoming titles nearing completion. New releases have been responsible for 22% of Embracer’s PC and console game sales over the past financial year, while the company’s vast back catalog contributed 53%.

Dead Island 2 has been highlighted in the report as highly successful, selling over two million units as of May 24, 2023, which means it “has surpassed the management’s initial expectations.”

Overall, the PC and console games segment amounted to 36% of Embracer’s sales, which now lists 102 internal video game studios with over 10,000 employees and 258 owned IPs. The report states that there are currently 221 PC and console game projects in the pipeline.