Embracer Group is spinning off Fellowship Entertainment, a new business unit focused on expanding The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider, as well as reviving some of the company's dormant video game franchises.
In a letter to investors, Lars Wingefors, founder and chair of Embracer, stated that Fellowship Entertainment will "more actively be exploring" external partnerships around its well-known IPs, including Saints Row, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, Red Faction, The Mask, Thief, and TimeSplitters.
This suggests we may see new games in these franchises developed by studios outside the Embracer umbrella. Wingefors did not confirm any new games or announce a timeline, but there is now hope for these franchises where fans thought there was none.
Take Saints Row, for example. Earlier this year, Saints Row 1 design director Chris Stockman said he believed the series was "dead" and that Embracer had "zero ability" to do anything with the franchise. The once Grand Theft Auto competitor hasn't seen a new entry since 2022's ill-fated reboot, which received mixed reviews. IGN's Saints Row review gave it a 6/10, stating, "Saints Row delivers no shortage of shallow shoot 'em up thrills, but it's a very familiar and uninspired brand of sandbox fun." Sales were disappointing, and developer Volition shut down in 2023.
Then there's Deus Ex. Earlier this year, lead actor Elias Toufexis called Embracer "psychopaths" as the wait continued for a new entry in the dormant stealth action series. In a social media post, Toufexis laid out his work schedule for 2026, leading fans to speculate about a new Deus Ex sequel, but Toufexis quickly shut that down, writing, "...no Deus Ex because the people in charge are psychopaths."
Toufexis has been vocal about wanting a new Deus Ex game, but it has been a decade since 2016's Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Developed by Eidos Montreal, that game received positive reviews on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. However, instead of a sequel, Eidos Montreal worked on Square Enix's failed Marvel's Avengers live-service game, its own Guardians of the Galaxy title, and supported the Tomb Raider franchise. Deus Ex fell by the wayside.
Fan excitement for a new Deus Ex was reignited after Square Enix sold Eidos Montreal and the Deus Ex franchise to Embracer. A new game was reportedly in development for two years, but it was canceled in 2024 amid Embracer's widespread restructuring.
TimeSplitters also suffered a game cancellation and studio closure. In 2021, publisher Deep Silver announced the return of TimeSplitters, developed by key original members of Free Radical Design at a new studio in Nottingham, UK. However, in December 2023, Free Radical shut down due to Embracer's restructuring, and the game never saw the light of day.
Will anything come of this new push from Embracer? It remains to be seen. But the company is keen to expand its largest IPs, including The Lord of the Rings/Middle-earth and Tomb Raider, and invest more in its triple-A IPs like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Dead Island, Darksiders, Remnant, and the Metro series.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse, owned by Embracer, is rumored to be working on a Lord of the Rings role-playing game. Crystal Dynamics has two Tomb Raider games in development. Dead Island 3 and Metro 2039 are confirmed. A third Remnant game hasn't been officially announced by Gunfire Games, but it seems inevitable given the success of the last one.
