Lord Of The Rings IP “Well Ahead Of Business Plan”, Embracer says
Embracer Group has said the Lord of the Rings intellectual property (IP) is performing “well ahead” of the business plan it set out when it bought the franchise in 2022.
Money generated by Middle-earth Enterprises grew significantly after “strong” licensing revenue for The Lord of the Rings, Embracer said in its financial report for the three months ending June 30.
In June, Embracer stressed the importance of "exploiting Lord of the Rings in a very significant fashion" by turning it into “one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world”.
The comments came amid a costly restructure of the gargantuan game business, which announced plans to cancel in-development projects, shut studios, and lay off an unspecified number of staff.
In an open letter to the company’s 17,000 staff, CEO Lars Wingefors said Embracer would decrease spending across the board, reduce third-party publishing, and “put greater focus on internal IP and increase external funding of large-budget games”.
Two months later, it seems Lord of the Rings is paying off for the company. “The performance of Middle-earth Enterprises is well ahead of the business plan developed at the time of acquisition a year ago,” Embracer boss Lars Wingefors said.
Wizards of the Coast recently released Magic the Gathering trading card game The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (the one with the $2 million card). Free Range Games’ PC and console survival crafting game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is set for release later this year. Embracer said “many other exciting new products that will grow the IP further” are in the works.
However, all is not well in the world of Lord of the Rings-related video games. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum suffered a disastrous release in
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