[GameSpot] - More Lord Of The Rings Video Games May Be On The Horizon With Embracer's 10,000 Developers

[343iBot]

Embracer Group now owns the rights to The Lord of the Rings video games, TV shows, and movies--among other mediums--and the company's CEO sees a lot of potential for growth in the area of games specifically. Lars Wingefors said at the Mipcom Cannes event this week that gaming will be Embracer's "strongest area of growth and monetization" for The Lord of the Rings.

Embracer is among the largest video game companies on Earth by developer headcount, and this opens up possibilities that publishers at a smaller scale might not be able to accommodate, Wingefors said.

"Having 10,000 developers in the group means we are thinking about what we can do with the IP going forward and this justifies value for us," he said. "And then we have a number of amazing opportunities to do transmedia projects. We can power creatives to succeed with their goals and dreams."

Embracer bought the movie, game, board TV, theme park, stage production, and merchandising rights to Lord of the Rings earlier this year.

ACF Investment Bank CEO Thomas Dey, who brokered the massive deal, said The Lord of the Rings has the potential to grow to the size of Marvel and Star Wars. "Someone has just needed to have the belief that this can be as ambitious as it can be," Dey said, referencing Embracer.

In the video game space, there are a number of upcoming Lord of the Rings games in the works, including The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a new title from Weta and Take-Two, and a survival crafting game called Return to Moria. EA, meanwhile, is also now making Lord of the Rings games again.

In the TV space, Amazon Studios' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power just wrapped up its first season, and a new movie, War of the Rohirrim, is coming in 2024. Looking ahead, Embracer has said there is potential for spin-off films dedicated to Gandalf, Aragorn, and Galadriel, among other characters.

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