The new owners of the Lord of the Rings IP says it's thinking about "decades" of content.
Speaking to Edge magazine, Lars Wingefors, CEO of Embracer Group, discussed the company's strategy in the wake of its purchase of Middle-earth Enterprises, owners of the Lord of the Rings rights. Embracer has noted the impressive access to Tolkein's IP that acquisition offers, but while it hasn't outlined any specific plans, Wingefors has offered a few ideas.
"We are a gaming company, but we believe in transmedia," Wingefors says, which is likely to be good news for fans of The Rings of Power. It looks like games, however, will continue to be a key focus, particularly for Lord of the Rings - "we believe that IPs are not necessarily always created within gaming, but that gaming, in general, is the best way to monetise an IP."
"When I looked at the business of Lord of the Rings, in terms of the current business of that licensing company, the most significant royalty streams were already from gaming. But I don't think people think about Lord of the Rings as primarily a gaming property."
Rings of Power aside, that sentiment seems to ring true; right now, there are at least three Lord of the Rings games in development. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is set to arrive first, followed relatively soon afterwards by survival game Return to Moria. On top of that, Weta Workshop, which assisted in the development of several of the trilogy's iconic vistas, also announced its own upcoming Lord of the Rings game, but details are scarce and the game is expected to be a long way out.
Hopefully, that's just the start of a bright new era for interactive Lord of the Rings. Wingefors says that Embracer plans to keep up its buying spree, but that "we have firm, long-term thinking about all our companies. We wouldn't acquire the brand of Lord of the Rings if we were just thinking to maximize that potential over the coming year. You need to think decades ahead. And that's how we will continue to think about this."
If Embracer is looking for some inspiration, here are the best Lord of the Rings games in all of Middle-earth.
