During this seemingly unpredictable period in gaming where studio acquisitions and talks of it dominate news cycles, Swedish video game and media holding company Embracer Group has spent the last few years buying up names and intellectual properties at a rate that has now become a little cumbersome to track. Just this year, they bought Crystal Dynamics from Square Enix, giving them the rights to the Tomb Raider series. The titles under their umbrella remains quite stellar. Seldom their deals get spoken about, as most gamers, journalists, and fans stay dialed in on what Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are doing.

In quite arguably their most noteworthy move, Embracer Group has purchased a handful of different studios, IPs, brands, and their first Japanese game studio. On August 18th, they agreed to acquire publisher and distributor Limited Run Games from its founders Josh Fairhurst and Douglas Bogart. The transition includes the Limited Run LLC., a store in Cary, North Carolina, and 40% ownership of joint-venture Super Deluxe Games in Japan.

Embracer Group, keeping up with the busy day, also gained the rights to Middle-Earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company. Through this purchase, Embracer Group now has the rights to use the characters and locations from The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, and its property runs deep. The upcoming Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (premiering September 2nd), an animated movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim by Warner Bros., and Electronic Arts' mobile game Lord of the Rings: Middle-Earth Heroes, there's not a dearth of content regarding the works of Tolkien.

“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", states COO of Zaentz Company Marty Glick. "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.“

As aforementioned, Embracer Group also now owns its first Japanese game developer by acquiring Tatsujin. The studio Tatsujin was founded by Masahiro Yuge, a notable arcade game developer and creator of games under the Toaplan brand like Snow Bros, Flying Shark, and Truxton. It will be interesting to see if these games will be reimagined or redistributed in any grand fashion. 

Embracer Group has pockets that run deep, and roots that seem to stretch even further. And while they don't break the internet often with the news stories of their acquisitions, their entertainment ventures brand to video games, and extend to board games and comics such as Hellboy. Embracer Group can be described as a media empire in some respects, yet much of what they own may have been a shadow of what they once were, at least in the world of video games. Certainly financially secure, and many studios and employees have the job security. Is Embracer Group planning any larger moves, or is this merely the continuing moving parts of companies and mergers? 

Lastly, does this mean I'll get my Limited Run orders faster...?