Last Summer, the Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group purchased rights to The Lord of the Rings without disclosing how much was paid, but it was now confirmed that the company paid a surprisingly low price for what is the most recognizable fantasy franchise ever made (as we had assumed a while ago).
As revealed in the company’s annual report, Embracer Group purchased the rights from Saul Zaentz Company for SEK 4.2 billion, around 395 million US dollars. Back when the deal was announced, as reported by Variety, the rights, which include rights to films, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks, and stage productions, were estimated to be worth up to 2 billion dollars, so it seems like the Swedish conglomerate got a real bargain.
Having paid so little for The Lord of the Rings rights, Embracer Group shouldn’t have too much trouble turning it into one of the biggest gaming franchises ever, a goal that the company will actively pursue in the future, as revealed by interim COO Matthew Karch earlier this month. The recent restructuring of the group also opened up additional resources to reach this goal.
We own Lord of the Rings, and we know we need to be exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion and turning that into one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world. And that’s obviously something we’re going to be doing.
That’s a much better use of resources than some of the other projects that some of our teams have been working on. Working together, we have those opportunities, and we’re super excited to see that put to work relatively quickly.
A new The Lord of the Rings game focused on Gollum was released last month by Daedalic, though it bombed among critics and users alike. In Wccftech’s review, Ule Lopez wrote:
[…] if you’re the kind of player who wishes to see stunning visuals and deep mechanics alongside high replay value and stable performance, I believe that this experience will leave much to be desired.
Later this year, another game based on Tolkien’s beloved fantasy books will be released. The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, a survival crafting game where players take the roles of dwarves attempting to regain control of their long-lost underground kingdom, is scheduled to launch this Fall.
Moreover, Amazon Games is once again making a new The Lord of the Rings MMO.
