Amazon has reportedly bought the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise for $600 million

Amazon has reportedly bought the rights to the Tomb Raider franchise for the grand sum of "600 million".

"That's according to the website Fellowship of Fans, which says, "Embracer Group just sold their 'Tomb Raider' rights to Amazon for a deal that we can exclusively reveal as being approximately a 600 Million overall package making it Amazon's second biggest purchase after purchasing the television rights for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'". The site appears to have a solid insight into Amazon's TV offerings, as it correctly predicted several early Rings of Power plot points months ahead of the show's release.

While the source doesn't specifically state the currency, we assume the figure is in USD. It's also unclear whether the deal includes games, movies, TV shows, and merchandise or if it's only the film and TV rights, though the lofty sum that Amazon has apparently coughed up suggests that it's purchased the rights to the whole Tomb Raider IP. Of course, as this news hasn't come directly from Amazon, you should take it with a pinch of salt until we have official confirmation.

If this is, in fact, true, it's not wholly surprising, as Amazon has certainly taken a strong interest in the series of late. In December 2022, the company announced that it is publishing the next Tomb Raider game, which doesn't yet have an official title or release window. And just last week, it was reported that Fleabag writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge is penning the script for a Prime Video series based on the popular franchise. That being said, if Embracer has indeed sold the rights, it's something of a speedy turnaround by the company as it only purchased the Tomb Raider IP, among others, from Square Enix in a $300 million deal in May last year, making this purported 600 million figure an excellent return on investment."

https://www.gamesradar.com/amazon-has-reportedly-bought-the-rights-to-the-tomb-raider-franchise-for-600-million/

Just a rumor for now but if so that means the Embracer Group just made double of their initial purchase of most of Square Enix's studios and IPs. And this deal was only for TR.

Love Amazon's ventures into Reacher/Jack Ryan/Expanse, but couldn't watch LotR... Hoping they can do Tomb Raider justice.

As far as the live-action tv show goes or the game franchise?

@lundy86_4: "Hoping they can do Tomb Raider justice."

Are they doing another reboot?

Cool. I get to watch Bezos blow another billion dollars on another over-produced flop. I'll get the popcorn.

Oh, this include the games as well? Well, considering Amazon's track record on that front, this will be a double flop, then. Twin-linked flop.

Jesus... talk about a game of hot potato.

Ah, just assumed TV/movie, as that's where their interests largely lie with Prime.

A new mainline Tomb Raider video game has been announced for awhile now (Square Enix originally talked about unifying the timelines of all the previous games in the franchise). This Amazon deal is for the entire IP. Amazon recently announced they are creating a live action Tomb Raider show: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-tomb-raider-movie-reportedly-in-the-works-as-part-of-amazons-huge-plans-for-mcu-like-franchise/1100-6510964/

https://www.eurogamer.net/tomb-raider-film-and-tv-series-reportedly-in-the-works-at-amazon

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/tomb-raider-amazon-series

The only good TR content i've ever seen was on the ps1. Everything else with no exceptions is garbage.

Just hope the new game turns out well. Did very much enjoy the recent reboot trilogy.

If you can't turn a profit on beloved, decades-old franchise with an existing market just waiting for it, you don't deserve to be in the game business.

Poor management will be the end of us all.

Same, not sure why people shit on it. Maybe too movie-gamey? Still, compared to Uncharted and TLOU and others, it's the least movie-game-like.

@mrbojangles25: Yeah, perhaps. Personally I really don’t mind the movie game stuff myself but I did enjoy the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy more then Uncharted and TLOU.

Square Enix chucked both Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider IP for peanuts. Just one baffling decision of many by Square Enix in recent years.

Congrats to whoever bought this and flipped it for double the price in a manner of weeks. Honestly not sure what Square Enix was thinking not to shop the sale, it's like someone who sells there wedding ring for their next crack rock.

They must be balls deep thinking their NFT Hail Mary is going to shower them money.

I don't know why billionaires never do anything creatively fun with their money. No creativity? I'd buy this IP and have them make a good game finally with an iron fist. Expect the idiots to double down with more of the same shit that hurt the last trilogy so much.

"Next level storytelling"

"cinematic action adventure experience"

Their words. They learned nothing. Another movie game so expensive they'll have no choice but to tick off the most boring AAA boxes again.

That's a lot of money for something I don't give a shit about.

1. Because they aren't creatively fun people.
2. Yeah, you're a gamer. 60 year old billionaires aren't.
3. Of course. The last trilogy sold like hot cakes. It was an amazing trilogy in their and consumers eyes.

Lol Square baffled, they sold their western studios and IP to embracer for just 300m.

Square is smart and knows all the money is in NFTs.

Well, good luck Amazon but Tomb Raider isn't quite the fantastic franchise it used to be. Not that Sony is selling, but I had much rather own the rights to Uncharted. Even the recent movie was pretty darn good.

Surely an indie dev could make a Tomb raider knockoff comparable to the PS1/PS2 games? Guess they're all busy making some 16 bit game that features procedural generation.

@lundy86_4: don't even mention The boys or invincible.

Needs to go back to its roots.

Yeah, understatement. I'd kill for a new old school TR game. Like the Core Design days.

@mysticaldonut: Wow!

No it doesn't.

I find old Lara unlikable.

@mysticaldonut: bad news for Netflix.

I was kinda hopeful Embracer would make scaled back, smaller budget, less cinematic Tomb Raider games. Oh well. Still enjoyed the second reboot trilogy, and I suspect the Amazon games will be similar.

Lara has big tits and makes sex noises when she bangs into the wall.

PS1 version was the best.

Dude.

They should make it an animated series honestly. Invincible and Vox Machina are the best shows prime has currently, and the animation for both are prestine and wonderfully gory. A pick ax to the face would work wonderfully animated.

Tomb Raider hasn't been interesting to me since the Anniversary edition back on the PS2. The reboots were meh personally.

Another proof that Sh*tEnix has sh*t for brains. They literally sold a bunch of IPs and studios for peanuts. I mean how stupid their executives have to be that they didn't know the worth of their assets when MS paid around 100M or so for to buy 1 year exclusivity for RotTR. MS is also probably kicking themselves on the timing. They would have snatched it too if they weren't involved in the AB deal.

Yeah, my bad. I've yet to really watch The Boys and almost forgot about Invincibles existence since it's been so long... Mind you, just bought the first 5 Invincible Ultimate collections.

Netflix announced a Tomb Raider animated series awhile back

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/tomb-raider-animated-netflix-series-what-we-know-so-far/

@mysticaldonut: I'd just rather have it more along the lines of Amazon's animated series rather than Netflix's. More gore and hand drawn animation. Netflix loves that cheap CGI animation and cookie cutter plotlines. Castlevania and witcher where the only Netflix animated series ive seen that I'd recommend to others.

Amazon loves big spending on gaming ventures so they can ruin them emtirely... Hopefully this transaction and New World turn out for the best.

Yay! A megacorporation buying rights to games instead of making games on their own!

Look, I don't mind buying games as much as most people seem to. I understand that in some cases, it's better to buy a studio and get exclusive rights than to let that studio bankrupt and be gone forever. However, Tomb Raider as an IP is doing fine. There's no need to buy it.

Crystal Dynamics has been working with The Initiative on Perfect Dark Reboot.

Soon, MS will announce CD will become a 1st party dev exclusively for future Perfect Dark sequels. ;o

You Herd it here first. lol :P

For a TV show? The last Tomb Raider movie flopped, so it's not a hot IP anymore. But considering the success of recent adaptations, it could work with a good script writer.

But at least Embracer made double on their investment. They got back twice what they paid Square. Not A big loss for Square though, as they're making more than enough dough from FFXIV.