Following a tumultuous few months for the conglomerate, Embracer Group has announced plans to split into three separate companies by 2025.
Embracer’s portfolio will be divided into three publicly traded entities: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The announcement claims the split will allow each entity to “better focus on their respective core strategies and offer more differentiated and distinct equity stories for existing and new shareholders.”
In practice, each company will serve a distinct purpose and will oversee a specific portion of the overall portfolio. Asmodee, the tabletop publisher and distributor, will continue to operate in that space, owning 23 board game, trading card and digital board game studios and over 300 IPs. With industry heavy-hitters such as Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Exploding Kittens falling under the Asmodee umbrella, it seems like a wise move for the company to stand on its own.
The second of the three, Coffee Stain & Friends, is a bit more nebulous in its purpose. Aside from Coffee Stain itself, which is obvious given the name, other studios that will fall under this banner include Ghost Ship, Tarsier, Tuxedo Labs, and THQ Nordic. On the whole, Embracer states that Coffee Stain & Friends will be focused on “community-driven free-to-play games, LiveOps games, and indie/AA games.” All in all, this appears to be the home of Embracer’s indie output, with a dash of free-to-play and live-service flavour to muddy the waters properly.
Lastly, we have Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The name probably gives this one away, but this will be the home of everything Lord of the Rings, as well as the centre for all AAA projects. The statement also name-drops the Tomb Raider and Metro IPs as two that will sit within the company, with various studios being mentioned as well, including Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Eidos-Montréal, Flying Wild Hog Studios, Tripwire, Vertigo Games, Warhorse Studios and 4A Games.
Embracer Group announces its intention to transform into three standalone publicly listed entities at Nasdaq Stockholm.
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📺 https://t.co/WngyfHRccEhttps://t.co/Db3fT2Ek0tAdvertisement. Scroll to continue reading.— Embracer Group (@embracergroup) April 22, 2024
With mass job cuts, project cancellations, and studio sales dominating the headlines for Embracer, it’s no wonder that there’s a shake-up on the horizon. A great deal of damage has already been done, and Embracer’s hoover-up of studios and IPs can’t exactly be undone, but hopefully, this will result in things taking a turn for the better.
What are your thoughts on Embracer’s move? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.
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