Metro developer 4A Games has just been acquired by Embracer Group, which owns THQ Nordic and many other game companies. The Sweden-based holdings firm has been buying up all sorts of publishers and developers in recent times, along with their intellectual property rights.
Embracer is becoming a bigger and bigger presence in the video game industry with all its acquisitions; it owns over 170 IPs at this point. Just a few among those are franchises like build on fan-favorite IPs like TimeSplitters in order to position itself as a more significant player in the industry.
Apparently, Embracer has just added another name to its list of properties. According to Eurogamer, the company has purchased developer 4A Games for $80 million. 4A is responsible for the Metro series and has over 150 employees between two studios in Ukraine and Malta. The deal transfers ownership of 4A Games, its proprietary game engine, and the Metro IP to Embracer. 4A also confirmed that it has started development on a brand-new IP with a multiplayer focus, as well as continuing its work on the Metro series.
In addition to 4A Games, Embracer stated that it had bought seven other development studios. These are New World Interactive, Sola Media, Pow Wow Entertainment, Palindrome Interactive, Rare Earth Games, Vermila Studios, and Deca Games. However, none of these developers had anything new to announce at present.
Embracer's acquisition of 4A Games isn't exactly surprising, given that the Metro games have been published by Deep Silver (which became an Embracer company). 4A will probably continue to operate in the same way it always has, perhaps with more financial stability. At this point, though, it would be nice to see some progress on the other well-known IPs that Embracer owns. For example, a playable build of Dead Island 2 recently leaked online - but there have been no official details about the game in a very long time. With all the manpower under its belt, let's hope that Embracer can shift a lot of these titles back into gear.
Source: Eurogamer
