Embracer Group is going all out with its games releases. The video game company recently announced its pipeline of AAA projects for the next five years.
Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors announced that the company expects Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal to release five AAA games by March 31, 2028. The plan was revealed during the company’s quarterly earnings presentation on Thursday.
Wingefors defines AAA games as projects that involve over 100 full-time developers during the peak of their development stage. These titles also have significant marketing budgets and are expected to sell at least two million units. If the studio is working with an external partner, the company must also have a significant business upside.
One project that fits the bill is the Perfect Dark reboot. The project is being co-developed by Xbox studio The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics and is being funded by Microsoft.
Crystal Dynamics is also working with Amazon on an upcoming Tomb Raider game. The studio has announced that it has started development for the game and it will be using Unreal Engine 5.
A new Deus Ex is reportedly in very early development over at Eidos Montreal. The studio has not yet revealed details for the upcoming action RPG.
Eidos Montreal is also collaborating with Microsoft on Xbox games including the reboot of Fable as well as an untitled new IP.
Aside from the titles mentioned above, there is a strong chance that Crystal Dynamics will be developing a new Legacy of Kain game. The studio recently conducted a survey asking fans about interest in the revival of the franchise, which received an overwhelming response from over 100,000 participants in the survey.
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal were acquired by Embracer Group last year from Square Enix for $300 million. Along with the purchase, the Embracer Group also acquired the rights to Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, and Thief.
The target of producing five AAA games in as many years is a significant increase for the studios. Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal released just three titles in the last five years.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released by Eidos Montreal in 2018 while Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2021. The two studios collaborated on 2020’s Marvel’s Avengers.
In total, Embracer Group expects its studios to release a total of 31 AAA games by 2028. The five AAA titles will come from Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal while eleven are from Saber Interactive. Six projects will be developed by Plaion and one from THQ Nordic.
The group is expecting four games will be coming out before March 2024. Only six of the planned projects have been announced to date.
