Embracer Group are threatening folks with a good time. Fresh off splitting themselves into a not at all confusing selection of companies rather than just the one (something they’ve got form for doing) the publishers have noted that as part of forming a new IP & licensing business, they’ll be “more actively” exploring licensing out well-known series like Deus Ex, Saints Row, TimeSplitters, and Thief to external partners. In theory, that could mean new games in said series made by studios that aren’t directly under Embracer’s thumb.
This thing was said by Embracer boss Lars Wingefors in an open letter to investors put out as part of the publishers’ decision to split into two companies, Embracer itself and Fellowship Entertainment. The latter, as the name suggests, will handle Embracer’s Lord of the Rings works, with studios including Kingdom Come: Deliverance devs Warhorse Studios operating under it. Tomb Raider devs Crystal Dynamics are also in the Fellowship, while the likes of Aspyr, Wreckfest publishers THQ Nordic, and Screamer devs Milestone are among those staying under Embracer itself.
“In addition to expanding our largest transmedia IPs, The Lord of the Rings/Middle-earth and Tomb Raider, we see great potential to invest own capital in and form new partnerships for our largest other AAA IPs, such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Dead Island, Darksiders, Remnant and the licensed Metro series,” Wingefors wrote as part of his explanation of why shuffling of corporate cards is the right move for many money-related reasons. “Apart from the largest IPs we will more actively be exploring external partnership around our roster of other well-known IPs such as Saints Row, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, Red Faction, The Mask, Thief, TimeSplitters, amongst many others. Dark Horse will operationally become part of the new IP & Licensing business unit with its long track record of co-producing film and TV shows with partners in Hollywood.”
As that last line suggests, assuming these deals with external partners do come to pass, they could well be for film and TV adaptations rather than new games. Though, even that’d be preferable to Adam Jensen remaining locked away in some Swedish basement with some Third Street Saints who simply will not stop cheekily poking him with purple plastic phallus bats. Anything that stops folks carving out tombstones for these series, aside perhaps from Legacy of Kain, as they struggle to see any reasons to believe new entries are coming any time soon.
