Guide: So, What Does Embracer Group Actually Own The Rights To?

Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and some of the wording here may not be 100% correct. Apologies in advance!

If you’re at all tuned in to gaming news, you’ll probably have noticed the seemingly-endless and slightly-worrying number of news posts about acquisitions over the past few years — and that one of the names cropping up over and over again is Embracer Group, which seems to be snarfing up game studios left and right.

But at this point, you’re probably wondering — okay, what do they actually own the rights to now? Sure, Embracer Group themselves won’t be making the games, but they have the power to order new entries in a fair few IPs at this point, most recently the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit series, which they acquired in August of 2022.

So, let’s take a look at a (non-exhaustive) list of the biggest IPs, franchises, and titles that Embracer now owns through its acquisitions:

Video Games & Series

It also looks like they hold a large number of shares in the companies that make the following games:

And, finally, they also own Limited Run Games, a physical publisher of video games (which hasn’t actually developed any in-house).

Comics, Movies & TV

When it comes to comics, movies, and TV, Embracer’s ownership of rights is a bit messier. Many of the properties that Dark Horse — one of Embracer’s subsidiaries — has published don’t actually belong to Dark Horse. Some were licensed out, and others have been returned to the original rights holders, or moved to new ones.

Embracer has ownership of Dark Horse Comics, which has published comics for the following stories:

• 300
• 47 Ronin
• The Mask
• Aeon Flux
• Aliens
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Alien³
• Alien Vs Predator
• Angel
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Conan
• Critical Role
• Emily Strange
• Ghost
• Hellboy
• Indiana Jones
• James Bond
• Nexus
• Predator
• RoboCop
• Serenity
• Sin City
• Tarzan
• The Terminator
• Timecop
• The Umbrella Academy
• X
• Xena: Warrior Princess

Embracer also owns Dark Horse Entertainment, which has published movies and TV shows for the following stories:

• The Mask
• Timecop
• Hellboy
• Alien Vs Predator
• Emily the Strange
• R.I.P.D.
• The Umbrella Academy

Board Games & Card Games

Through Embracer’s ownership of French board game publisher Asmodée, they have the publishing rights for the following board and card games:

• 7 Wonders
• Agricola
• Call of Cthulhu
• Carcassonne
• Ca$h ‘n Gun$
• Catan
• Citadels
• Diplomacy
• Dixit
• Dobble
• Formula De
• Ghost Stories
• Hanabi
• Jaipur
• Jungle Speed
• Liar’s Dice
• Pandemic
• Small World
• Splendor
• Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game
• The Werewolves of Millers Hollow
• Ticket to Ride
• Time’s Up!
• Twilight Imperium
• Unlock!
• Pokémon (French only)
• The Lord of the Rings (card game)
• A Game of Thrones (card game)
• Arkham Horror (card game)
• Marvel Champions (card game)

Asmodée also has the rights to publish WizKids board and card games in French, including:

• Justice League
• Gremlins
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Battlestar Galactica (TCG)
• Quarriors!
• The Lord of the Rings Dice Building Game
• Dice Masters
• Clix
• Mage Knight

Phew. How long do you give it until Embracer owns us, too? And do you think this kind of slow monopoly is a good thing, or a bad thing for video games? Tell us in the comments!