The rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit have been acquired by tech conglomerate Embracer Group as part of a number of new deals, but the purchase has been met with a sense of wary distrust from fans.
In a press release early this morning, Embracer said that it had "entered into an agreement to acquire Middle-earth Enterprises," granting it potential access to "a vast intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to motion pictures, video games, board games," and much more.
Embraced Group doesn’t seem to have done badly by the company’s bought so far but the Warner Bros. Discovery stuff has me on edge.August 18, 2022
Over on the Lord of the Rings subreddit, a similar sentiment arose. User munki17 suggested that the focus on individual characters could lead to an "incoming Gandalf movie, Aragorn movie, Legolas and Gimli movie," adding "I hope I'm wrong." Another user was even less confident, saying "You think Amazon was bad? Prepare for made-up spin-off movies and series. LorR is the new cow for money like [Star Wars]. They will milk it dry until nobody cares about the franchise anymore."
Even if not everyone seems to share that more pessimistic outlook, right now there's little enthusiasm for a potential glut of new games and films appearing on social media. Embracer does seem to suggest it'll continue the somewhat hands-off approach it's brought to other acquisitions in recent years, but it's unlikely that any company would look to acquire one of the world's biggest franchises and not look to capitalise on that purchase as soon as possible.
Along with Middle-earth Enterprises, Embracer also announced today that it had purchased a number of other companies. They include physical games producer Limited Run Games, Killing Floor developer Tripwire Studios and Teardown's Tuxedo Labs, and gaming and music effects company Singtrix.
Just this week, a new Lord of the Rings game was announced from the team that helped bring Middle-earth to life.
