The Swedish gaming company Embracer Group, known for games like Lord of the Rings, Tomb Raider, and Goat Simulator, is making big changes. The company will be divided into three separate publicly traded companies, each with its own specific focus. This decision follows a period of buying many other companies, having financial problems, closing some studios, and cutting jobs.
It looks like Embracer is no more, and three different companies will be taking its place. According to the press release, One of the new companies, Asmodee Group, will focus on tabletop games. Asmodee already owns many popular titles like Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Catan, and Exploding Kittens. It’s expected that Asmodee will become a publicly traded company on the Stockholm stock exchange in the next year.
The second entity, which is currently called “Coffee Stain & Friends,” will cover Embracer’s various indie and mid-tier developers and publishers. Some of the studios included in this group are Coffee Stain (known for Goat Simulator, Valheim, and Satisfactory), Ghost Ship Games (the developer of Deep Rock Galactic), and Tarsier (the studio behind Little Nightmares). This new entity will also involve developers of free-to-play games and will offer a combination of original game titles and licensed ones. It’s expected to become a publicly traded company in 2025.
“Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends” will soon be home to Embracer’s high-budget AAA studios, focusing on PC and console games. This group will include renowned developers like Crystal Dynamics (known for Tomb Raider), Eidos Montreal (with the recent Guardians of the Galaxy game), and Dambuster Studios (working on Dead Island 2). Notably, this entity will maintain ownership of The Lord of the Rings and other important intellectual properties. It will also operate under a different name from the current Embracer Group listing.
Embracer says it decided to split its business strategically, allowing each part to focus more on its main strengths, attract specific investors, and have more financial flexibility. The move is meant to create more value from Embracer’s large portfolio after a period of overexpansion due to many acquisitions. The company’s board of directors and executive management believe that these changes will set all three new companies up for more success in the long term.
We’ll have to see where it goes, but splitting up and removing the “embracer” label is a good idea. Right now, they’re pretty well-hated because of how many people they’ve fired.
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