It’s only been a few months since the Embracer Group acquired the majority of Square Enix’s Western business in deal worth $300 million, which also included the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise. Now, however, it seems like the property is once again going to be changing hands.
As per a report published by Fellowship of Fans, the Embracer Group has “leased” the rights to the Tomb Raider IP to Amazon, suggesting that ownership of the franchise is still likely to reside with Embracer Group, with Amazon getting exclusive access to making content for it for a period of time, similar to the deal for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The deal is allegedly worth $600 million, which is twice as much as what the Embracer Group for multiple Square Enix studios and franchises last year.
Whether this will involve all media – including games, movies, and TV shows – or will pertain specifically to certain projects remains to be seen, though recent reports have claimed that Amazon is looking to create an MCU-style connected multimedia Tomb Raider universe. Amazon is also reportedly working on a Tomb Raider TV series.
As for the validity of the report, Fellowship of Fans has had a solid track record with leaks related to Amazon content, in particular having accurately leaked details on the aforementioned The Rings of Power on a number of occasions.
Interestingly, it has been previously confirmed that the next mainline Tomb Raider title will be published by Amazon Games. The game is allegedly set to be revealed sometime later this year.