Lord of the Rings and Hobbit rights purchased by Swedish video game company, Embracer Group

There has been much planned on the forefront of the Lord of the Rings property lately. Amazon has released trailers for their much-anticipated series, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, there is an animated movie from Warner Bros set to be released in 2024 titled, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, and there’s an EA mobile game called, The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth.

Deadline reports that the company Middle-earth Enterprises, which is in charge of the whole Lord of the Rings world, has now been purchased by the Swedish video game company Embracer Group. The company had acquired several direct subsidiaries, including the gaming publisher THQ and Dark Horse Comics. This recent purchase allows the company to oversee movies, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks, and stage production rights related to The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises and other Middle-earth-related books that are authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins.

Lars Wingefors, the founder and CEO of the Embracer Group, is quoted as saying,

“I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises, join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities, including synergies across our global group. I am thrilled to see what lies in the future for this IP with Freemode and Asmodee as a start within the group. Going forward, we also look forward to collaborating with both existing and new external licensees of our increasingly stronger IP portfolio.”

Marty Glick, the COO of The Saul Zaentz Company, which Middle-earth Enterprises is a division of, released a statement where he added,

“We at the Zaentz Company have had the honor over the past half-century of stewarding the Tolkien rights so that Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans worldwide could enjoy award-winning epic films, challenging video games, first-rate theatre, and merchandise of every variety. We could not be more thrilled that it is Embracer now taking up the responsibility, and we are confident their group will take it to new heights and dimensions while maintaining homage to the spirit of these great literary works.”

What do you think? Which upcoming Lord of the Rings project are you looking forward to?