4A Games acquisition hints at a multiplayer future for Metro

There's a new conductor on the Metro: Exodus train. Or driver, even. Captain? I might not know how trains work, but I can tell you that Metro developers 4A Games have just been picked up by Embracer Group for around $80 million (roughly £61 million), and are floating plans to put that partnership to work on a multiplayer take on the post-apocalyptic Muscovite.

Embracer are, as far as I can tell at least, the parent company of THQ Nordic and Deep Silver - the latter having published the Metro series following THQ's collapse in 2013. To expand that web even further, their purchase of 4A comes through subsidiary Saber Interactive, who'll be taking on all of 4A's staff, the Metro IP, and the studio's in-house FPS development tech.

So, beyond all the business talk, what does this actually mean for Metro's future? Multiplayer, it seems, according to a statement from 4A CEO Dean Sharpe, who also suggested that the team are working on creating an "ambitious" new IP in the coming years.

"Embracer Group and Saber Interactive are the perfect partners for 4A Games and for our next phase of growth," said Sharpe. "Together we will continue to build on the Metro franchise and will focus on bringing a multiplayer experience to our fanbase. We look forward to building a new and even more ambitious AAA IP in the near future."

Embracer have been on something of a shopping spree as of late. The firm also picked up Insurgency: Sandstorm developers New World Interactive for an undisclosed sum, helping push their work on a "new unannounced" project. Five more studios were taken into Embracer's, well, embrace this week, with the company now controlling 33 internal game development studios with over 4000 employees in total.