Embracer Group is going through yet another round of major organisational changes. The company hit dire financial straits a few years ago, leading to numerous layoffs and studio closures. Now that the dust has settled, Embracer is spinning off Middle-Earth Enterprises into a new company to house the group's largest IP, including LOTR, Tomb Raider and more. 

The move is somewhat similar to Ubisoft's recent restructuring, which saw new companies put in place to house various projects. One of the new subsidiaries, Fellowship Entertainment, will maintain ownership of the Lord of the Rings IP, Tomb Raider, Darksiders, Dead Island, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Metro and Remnant.

The studios joining Fellowship Entertainment include Dark Horse Media, 4A Games, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Fishlabs, Flying Wild Hog Studios, Middle-Earth Enterprises, Redoctane Games, Warhorse Studios and Gunfire Games.

Meanwhile, Embracer will continue to oversee IPs like Destroy All Humans, Kingdom of Amalur, Titan Quest, Wreckfest, Gothic, Killing Floor, Hot Wheels and even SpongeBob. Studios like Aspyr, Beamdog, Limited Run Games, Plaion, Tripwire, Vertigo Games and THQ Nordic will also remain under Embracer.

Amid all of this restructuring, Embracer has also announced plans to explore licensing opportunities for some of its popular but dormant IP, including Deus Ex, Thief, Red Faction and TimeSplitters.

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KitGuru Says: Hopefully this is the end of Embracer Group's long-running restructuring saga. 

One of the most disappointing things about Embracer's acquisition of Eidos Montreal has been the complete lack of interest in bringing back Deus Ex. Now after years of struggling to generate hit games, Embracer Group finally appears to be willing to give Deus Ex a chance at life. 

Today, alongside an announcement of new organisational changes, Embracer Group said that it will be “more actively exploring external partnerships” for dormant AAA IP like Deus Ex, Thief, TimeSplitters, Red Faction, Saints Row, Legacy of Kain and even The Mask – I must admit, I didn't even know Embracer owned that last one.

While this means that Embracer Group itself won't be putting its own studios onto projects involving these IP, third-parties can come in and pitch. Personally, I would like to see a scenario where former Arkane (Prey) developers band together to grab the license.

Embracer has also made some other positive moves this week by putting the studio behind Kingdom Come Deliverance on a new Lord of the Rings game, which is perhaps the best use of their resources that I've observed in years.

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KitGuru Says: Would you like to see Deus Ex make a comeback? Which studio would you like to see take on the project? 

Right before Embracer Group slammed the brakes on its acquisition spree, the company had bought up the Lord of the Rings IP. Now, Embracer is looking to leverage some of its best studios to put together a new LOTR videogame.

According to Insider Gaming, Embracer Group is working on a new Lord of the Rings game intended to rival Hogwarts Legacy in terms of scale and immersion. Apparently, Embracer has two of its best studios working on the project, including a small team at Crystal Dynamics, along with a team at Warhorse Studios.

Warhorse Studios is primarily known for its fantastic RPG series, Kingdom Come Deliverance, which follows the story of Henry, who grows from being an apprentice blacksmith into a full-blown knight. Crystal Dynamics on the other hand is primarily known for the Tomb Raider games.

it is reported that Crystal Dynamics work on this LOTR project is separate to its ongoing work on Tomb Raider, with two new Tomb Raider games set to release over the next year or so – Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

KitGuru Says: It has been almost a decade since the Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War games, so fans have had to wait quite some time for a new AAA-calibre LOTR game.

After reports that Warhorse Studios, the team behind the Kingdom Come: Deliverance games was working on an upcoming Lord of the Rings game, a new report from Insider-Gaming seems to further clarify what's actually happening with the next title set in Tolkien's universe. According to the outlet, while it's possible that Warhorse is working on a Lord of the Rings game, the game that's currently rumoured to be coming next from the LotR franchise is actually being made by Crystal Dynamics. This is something the studio is working on alongside its upcoming Tomb Raider titles, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/crystal-dynamics-reportedly-working-on-third-person-open-world-lord-of-the-rings-game/

Eternal Darkness and Legacy of Kain creator Denis Dyack shared a lot of interesting thoughts in a two-hour-long interview with KiwiTalkz, in which he addressed the lack of optimization of many Unreal Engine 5 games. You might remember that his upcoming game, Deadhaus Sonata, was powered by the Amazon Lumberyard engine when we last talked to him a few years ago. Well, Dyack's studio went through several engine changes before eventually landing on Epic's technology after patching things up with the company following their previous dispute over Too Human. Now a user of the leading game-making tool, Dyack pointed the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/denis-dyack-defends-ue5-decries-state-of-the-industry/