Embracer Group's Rampant Monopolisation Is Bigger Than Lord Of The Rings

From TheGamer: "Embracer Group has been a hungry little goblin recently, gobblin' up IP like there's no tomorrow. The investment group first made waves when it slurped up the likes of THQ, Saber Interactive, and Gearbox Software, although the recent acquisition of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and several other properties from Square Enix was what made a lot of people pay attention. Now, in one fell swoop, it gobbled up Limited Run Games, Tripwire Interactive, Singtrix, Tuxedo Games, Bitwave Games, Gioteck, and the IP for The Lord of the Rings (although not the literary rights themselves). This is a heck of a lot of things. It's too many things. As I argued when Microsoft bought Activision so soon after buying Bethesda, this is bad news."

[ZeekQuattro]

If Embracer wants to buy up underutilized IPs and actually do something with them I'm all for it. A lot of what they purchased are IP's that have been dormant for years. I'm not about to throw shade at them for using their vast wealth to resurrect dead or dying IP's that I'm interested in.

[porkChop]

If you think Embracer is monopolizing you really don't understand what they're doing. Embracer is buying teams and IP that are undervalued and mistreated by other publishers. Then they let those teams do whatever they want to do with all the resources and artistic freedom they need. They're actually protecting these teams and franchises from bigger publishers.

[Phoenix76]

Google "embrace Group pie chart" and you will see that they are forming a monopoly when compared to others in the gaming industry.

[porkChop]

You're talking about the chart where a team of 20-30 devs is visually represented the same as a studio with hundreds of devs and multiple teams. Embracer is big, no doubt, but that chart is useless.

Also, look up what an actual monopoly is before you start throwing that word around. No one in the game industry is remotely close to having a monopoly. That's how large the industry is.

[sourOG]

You’re thinking of consolidation. If they were forming a monopoly there wouldn’t be others in the industry to compare with.

[Tacoboto]

Sooo, kinda what Microsoft is doing with Activision then, buying the teams and IP that are undervalued and mistreated due to how COD engulfs all of their non-Blizzard teams (and Activision's mistreatment of their own employees). Microsoft is actually protecting those teams and franchises.

I certainly don't agree with any belief that either are creating a monopoly, but Embracer is on a consolidation spree that dwarfs even what MS is doing. The only thing they're missing now is a hardware team...

[porkChop]

Embracer is certainly moving faster with their acquisitions. I've actually thought about a hardware team. I don't know if they'd actually make a console but they certainly could support one if they wanted to. I know they own Dark Horse Comics and now Tolkien's works, and they've said they also want to make films. With Tolkien it's specifically films centered around individual characters. They've got big plans but so far they seem to be doing things with care.

[Silly gameAr]

It is a little worrying, but if they can do something good with the IP's they bought, and keep it fair, then
I don't see the big problem. If they were buying IP's to keep them off platforms, now that would be a huge problem, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[ChasterMies]

It’s not monopolization if you you only have a fraction of the market.

[sourOG]

Monopoly? People just throw words around until they don’t have any meaning anymore. This is the second ignorant article I have seen from this site today.

This site is against monopolies unless it comes to flag mods lmao. There can be only one.

[metabolicfrolic]

What exactly are they monopolizing? Last time I checked there were still tons of publishers out there.