In an interview with Variety, Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon MGM Studios, was asked about a possible acquisition that could shake the entire gaming industry to its foundations. Your Answer fuels the rumor mill.
What kind of takeover is this? The variety.com interview with Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon MGM Studios, was actually about current and upcoming projects for Amazon Prime such as the Lord of the Rings series or Tomb Raider.
Since Amazon works with the Swedish Embracer group on several ventures, the question came out of nowhere: “Embracer, which has had a difficult time over the last 18 months, currently owns the majority of Tolkien’s intellectual property. Could it be that Amazon might potentially take over the company?”
Jennifer Salke’s answer was surprising because it didn’t come with the expected denial: “We talk about such possibilities all the time, but I don’t have anything to say about it yet [Stand jetzt].”
Embracer and Amazon are working together on Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power:
Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power: The official trailer for the series
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A historic takeover
Why is the takeover being discussed? Variety’s question already suggested it: there are turbulent years behind the Embracer Group. After an almost finalized billion-dollar deal collapsed, the Swedish media group’s decision-makers had to take tough austerity measures.
There were extensive layoffs, studio closures, project cancellations and a restructuring of the entire group into three independent, listed units:
Or to put it another way: Embracer is struggling on the one hand, but on the other hand has a lot of valuable IPs and studios. The division into three self-sufficient units also increases the chance that an interested buyer will snap up one or two parts of the group in the coming months.
What would that mean for Amazon? Through partnerships with Embracer, Amazon is already using various brands such as Lord of the Rings or Tomb Raider to produce new games or films/series. Buying Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends alone would give you direct access.
The acquisition would also increase Amazon’s games division many times over in one fell swoop. In the Q1 2024 financial report, the PC and console gaming division alone consisted of 243 IPs, 5,438 employees and 66 internal studios. There is also the mobile and tabletop area.
Amazon Games, for example, would then have access
Even if Amazon “only” grabbed Middle-Earth Enterprises and thus the rights to the Lord of the Rings universe, that would be an exclamation point. Jennifer Salke’s statement might suggest that any of this is just a matter of time. More about Embracer: After extensive layoffs, the company wants to fully focus on Lord of the Rings – Amazon’s MMORPG is just the beginning