According to website Fellowship of Fans, Embracer Group has sold their ‘Tomb Raider’ rights to Amazon in a deal that GamesRadar is reporting as a “600 million overall package.” This deal comes on the heels of Embracer Group recently purchasing the same rights, along with most of Square Enix’s western division (including a number of IP rights and studios), in a deal worth a total of $300M last May. On the side of Amazon, this deal would follow a successful first season of Amazon’s take on popular high fantasy The Lord of the Rings with “The Rings of Power” on Amazon’s Prime Video service.
It is rumored that Amazon is currently working on a Tomb Raider movie and TV series to compliment the next game that has been announced as in the works at Crystal Dynamics. According to a source of The Hollywood Reporter, “The idea is to build out a connected world…in a fashion akin to what Marvel has already accomplished.” At this time with the deal not yet officially announced, it is unclear if it includes all rights to the Tomb Raider franchise or if it is just an acquisition of the film and television rights. Given the high price tag, our guess would be that it covers the full package though.
While Amazon has shown the masses that it is very capable of making successful movies and television shows, it has left a lot to be desired in the world of in-house video game development. One of its latest attempts Crucible had its servers shut down nearly two weeks after it launched; other MMO attempts like New World and a game that Amazon helped publish in Lost Ark have brought in significant launch numbers before dwindling considerably in the weeks to follow. If they did acquire the gaming rights to the Tomb Raider franchise, it will be interesting to see how they handle them…at the moment gamers are skeptical at best.
Image from: Embracer Group
