Embracer Group’s quarterly fiscal report is rumored to suggest that the new Metro franchise is also slowly moving toward the finish line.

Lars Wingefors, CEO of Embracer Group, confirmed that the conglomerate plans to publish five Lord of the Rings games by the end of March 2024: “In the quarter, Freemode closed the previously announced acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises. For Freemode, this acquisition has generated a lot of interest among internal and external partners for The Lord of the Rings IP across different media formats. There are currently five games in production by external partners to be released in the financial year 2023/24. There is also one film in production by an external partner. Freemode continues to make selective key recruitments in various parts of its business to strengthen the organization.”

Four games can be named. The first is the much-delayed game with Gollum from Daedalic Entertainment, announced as early as March 2019, and is expected to be released in the spring or summer. There’s a good chance we’ll hear more about it at Nacon Connect on March 9. The second is The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, a survival game. It’s set in the fourth age of Middle-earth and stars dwarves. Up to eight of us can play Free Range Games’ game, which is expected to hit the Epic Games Store on PC this year. Wētā Workshop is also working on a Middle-earth project, and a turn-based, free-to-play RPG for iOS/Android pairing is the fourth game. Only the fifth is unknown.

Of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, Wingefors said they have five AAA games to release by March 2028, five years from now. According to Embracer, an AAA game has more than 100 full-time developers, a significant marketing budget, and sales of at least 2 million. An economic return must also be achieved for games paid for by an external partner. It’s safe to say that Crystal Dynamics is working on the new Tomb Raider and the Perfect Dark reboot with The Initiative, and the studio is keen to return to its older IPs (e.g., Legacy of Kain), so these could be in the five. Maybe the result will be better than Marvel’s Avengers.

Wingefors also said that there will be an unannounced game from 4A Games coming in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, which could be a new Metro installment by the end of March 2024 at the latest. It could be delayed, as the Russian war against the Ukrainians has disrupted development. Tom Henderson has written that the project is already in a playable state, with an announcement this year and a release next year.

The expansion of Embracer Group is always worth watching.

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech, WCCFTech