Soon, the name Embracer Group will be no more, as the company has announced it will be separating into three “market-leading games and entertainment” entities, none of which will bear the Embracer Group moniker.
Embracer shared the news earlier today via an April 22 press release, as well as the names of the three new companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. All three will be listed individually on the Stockholm stock exchange, which Embracer said will enable “each entity to better focus on their respective core strategies.”
As for what each company will be doing, Asmodee will continue to publish and distribute tabletop games, with it said to currently be working on new licensed games based on popular IPs, like Marvel and Star Wars. So not much has really changed on that front, since Asmodee was already making and selling tabletop games long before Embracer acquired it in 2022.
Coffee Stain & Friends will prioritize making indie and A/AA premium games, as well as free-to-play titles, across PC, consoles, and mobile platforms. It will have control of over 200 IPs, including Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, and Valheim. Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, meanwhile, will focus on big-budget AAA games, and will serve as the “stewards” of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider franchises. As such, it will also be home to studios like Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Dambuster Studios.
“This move has been made with the intention to unleash the full potential of each team and provide them with their own leadership and strategic direction,” said Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors. “This is the start of a new chapter, a chapter that I intend to remain part of as an active, committed, and supportive shareholder of all three new entities, with an evergreen horizon.”
This new strategy for Embracer comes after months of cuts across its various departments. Studios like Volition were shut down, while others like Eidos-Montréal saw layoffs and cancelled projects. A fiscal report revealed, in 2023 alone, Embracer let go 8% of its workforce, tantamount to nearly 1,400 employees. More recently, in an effort to make some money back after hoovering up so many studios, it also decided to sell Borderlands studio Gearbox to Take-Two, with Saber Interactive (which is still working on the Knights of the Old Republic remake) also splitting off from Embracer.
