During the most recent Embracer Group quarterly presentation to investors, CEO Lars Wingefors said the company sees great potential in using the IPs purchased alongside Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal to create not only sequels but also remakes, remasters, spin-offs, and potentially transmedia projects.
Here’s the specific quote from Wingefors:
We recently announced the acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and other IPs.
The announcement got an overwhelming and positive response. We see great potential, not only in sequels but also in remakes, remasters, spin-offs as well as transmedia projects across the group.
Given that Tomb Raider already has an announced sequel coming to next-generation platforms and powered by Unreal Engine 5, it’s safe to guess that Wingefors was primarily referring to the other intellectual properties. With Crystal Dynamics back on Tomb Raider duty, it would likely be up to Eidos Montréal (the studio behind Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which came out only a few months ago) to engage with a project as large as a remake.
Out of all those IPs, Legacy of Kain would make the most sense for Embracer to revive (pun intended). It’s been dormant for a long time (the last main installment, Defiance, launched nearly twenty years ago), to the point where there’d be lots of potential new fans among younger gamers. On the other hand, older enthusiasts have been waiting for the series’ comeback for ages and would be exceedingly excited if it was announced. Eidos Montréal does have experience reviving old series, given its previous work on Thief and Deus Ex (two potential candidates for remasters), although those were reboots/reimaginings rather than remakes.
Regarding the transmedia projects mentioned, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors could undoubtedly have been referring to movie/TV adaptations (the second Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander is, after all, still coming at some point). Still, it is also possible the company would like to leverage the recent acquisition of Asmodee to create board games, trading card games, and tabletop RPGs based on those IPs.
In the same quarterly presentation, Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch touted the acquisition as the ‘steal of the century’.
