I hope we get the conclusion to Adam Jensen's Deus Ex trilogy, that's all. But I wonder how much more A/AA gaming stuff lying around they might be interested in.

As long as we get a new Timesplitters, I don't care who they buy.

Honestly, for me, the biggest shock was when I found out a while ago that have bought the largest hobby boardgame publisher Asmodee for $3 billion. Apparently, this LotR and Hobbit deal is at least $2 billions, so I'm wondering where they're getting so much money from,

They are acquiring Tatsujin (Toaplan) so hopefully we get some cool new shmups. I also saw a blurb about them and Koei Tecmo but cant find more info on their press release site about it.

Leave Platinum Games alone is my consistent wish from these big western publishers.

I think they're playing the long game, I'm just not sure what that is exactly. Building up the portfolio so that someone eventually buys them? Or becoming super-publisher like no other? They've bought enough high profile video game development studios (if I'm counting right, 5 or 6 are AAA) AND they own Asmodee, the largest hobby boardgames publisher in the world, something that no other VG publisher owns (I'm waiting for someone like MS to snatch Hasbro for Wizards of the Coast (D&D and Magic the Gathering)).

Embracer is still now a reasonably large company, but nothing "dangerous". I see them as a management vehicle rather than a disruptive force in the industry.

Before this acquisition they were about half the effective size of Take-Two Interactive, or under a third the size of EA. This acquisition only adds about another half-billion dollars to their balance sheet.

Anyway. If you want to be a big player in this industry, and have organic growth rather than just grow by acquisition (which is ultimately what shareholders want), then you need to provide some desirable goods and services to consumers. That's literally the only way they can maintain the value of the assets they've purchased and generate revenue from them. Some have suggested their plan is to rent-seek and just hold onto assets while the industry grows but this is clearly a total nonsense, not least because high quality studios can easily be more valuable than IP

People thinking they’re just going to sit on IP’s, but that doesn’t make to much sense with Lord of The Rings, that thing goes Public Domain in 20 years, they’re going to have to get moving to get maximum value from the acquisition.

That's what everyone thought about Star Wars, and then EA didn't do shit with the license.  There is a good reason they lost exclusivity 2 years before it was set to expire.

Unless Embracer acquires a midsize publisher like Ubisoft I don't see them as a real threat. Sony, Nintendo, Tencent, can easily outspend them. All the major platform holders can add dozens of studios overnight if they really wanted to.