Norwegian games firm Funcom has snapped up the owner of IP including Conan the Barbarian.

In a post on its website, the firm revealed that it had bought Cabinet Group, which owns the likes of Conan, Mutant Year Zero and Solomon Kane. This business is going to be renamed Heroic Signatures at Funcom; no figure has been placed on the deal.

“We are currently overseeing the development of an unannounced game which will combine many of the characters in the Robert E. Howard universe,” Funcom CEO Rui Casais (pictured) said.

“And if you combine Funcom’s knowledge of games with Heroic Signatures’ knowledge of the TV/entertainment, publishing, and licensing industries, it makes us perfectly placed to take this venture to the next level. It’s exciting times ahead for us and for fans of the IPs.”

Cabinet Group CEO and co-founder Fredrik Malmberg added: “We took Cabinet Group as far as we could as an independent studio, but in order to achieve further growth, we were in need of bigger financial investments and infrastructure.

“The entertainment industry is rapidly becoming more ‘techified.’ We’ve seen brilliant examples of how games have incorporated IPs in innovative ways to reach audience numbers that vastly surpass previous levels. What Fortnite has done with The Avengers, for instance, or the impact a live in-game concert can have on awareness. We are looking forward to sitting down with other entertainment companies who share our vision and wish to take part in the exciting journey we have ahead."

Funcom was itself acquired by Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent in 2020.