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Embracer Group splitting into three companies

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Embracer Group have announced that after being the cause of many job losses, shutting down developers and selling some off - they're now splitting into three companies.

These three will be Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. Each of them will be separate, publicly listed companies which Embracer say enables " each entity to better focus on their respective core strategies and offer more differentiated and distinct equity stories for existing and new shareholders" that will enable them to "unlock value in the high-quality assets of Embracer Group following the successful completion of the restructuring program".

Coffee Stain & Friends will have a focus on a wide variety of games across PC, console and mobile across two distinct segments of premium and free to play. This includes some control over Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Teardown, Valheim, Coffee Stain, Ghost Ship, Tarsier, Tuxedo Labs, as well as THQ Nordic and Amplifier Game Invest plus "more than 200 other IPs".

Asmodee Group will focus on board games and digital board games including Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Azul, CATAN, Dobble, Exploding Kittens plus they're also developing tabletop games for The Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Game of Thrones, Netflix, Lego and Star Wars. As part of this, Asmodee also secured a new financing agreement of 900 million euros through JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, SEB, Societe Generale and Swedbank which Embracer said is "an important part of the debt refinancing of Embracer Group following its restructuring program".

Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends will be their "creative powerhouse in AAA game development" and will remain the "stewards of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider intellectual properties" but they also control the likes of Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Eidos-Montréal, Flying Wild Hog Studios, Tripwire, Vertigo Games, Warhorse Studios and 4A Games among many others. IPs includes Dead Island, Killing Floor, Kingdom Come Deliverance, The Lord of the Rings, Metro and Tomb Raider, among many others. The group will include PLAION, Freemode, Dark Horse and other businesses.

I should note that both Coffee Stain & Friends and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends aren't the official names, just what they're being referred to right now. As Embracer said the official names will be "decided at a later stage".

More in their press release and the open letter from the Embracer CEO.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc
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21 comments
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damarrin Apr 22
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What a mess.
pb Apr 22
Embrace, Extend... Estrange?
sudoer Apr 22
LOL @PR bs...
-buy companies, merge into one = benefit
-split companies into many = benefit

"with Embracer you always benefit!"

everything done just with the intent of how to artificially boost/play around shareholders investment.
kerossin Apr 22
Quoting: sudoerLOL @PR bs...
-buy companies, merge into one = benefit
-split companies into many = benefit

"with Embracer you always benefit!"

everything done just with the intent of how to artificially boost/play around shareholders investment.

"offer more differentiated and distinct equity stories for existing and new shareholders" this was delightful to read. It's amazing how many new phrases corporate marketing can invent and yet be so devoid of meaning.

What even is an equity story? A shareholders wet dream where they spent $5, sucked everything out of developers and existing IP, and made millions?
Man, I am done with this company. Already done so much damage to the industry, can't wait to see what else they've got to give...
This is disgusting. Seriously, buying up companies, and then firing people and breaking up again. It's awful. Also, I do not trust the remnants of my beloved LOTR franchise to someone who even has a working title of "Middle Earth and Friends" That sounds like a kid TV show!!!
Dog what the whole point of all of that?

Is the person running Embracer just some kitty easily distracted by shiny?

What was the dog damn point of buying up all of these companies, claiming they'd be all stronger under one umbrella, firing many of the talented employees that made those companies successful in the first place, shutting down some of them entirely, only to announce that now the companies will stronger split up under separate entities!

I mean bloody hell, what was the dog damn point of all that?
Ehvis Apr 22
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Let's hope "Coffee Stain and friends" will just all fall under Coffee Stain Publishing now. They seem to be relatively solid and appear to have been mostly unaffected by all the mess.
Arehandoro Apr 22
I'm not sure whether this is their attempt to trying doing a rebranding here, or another way to keep milking the cow (aka new rounds of investment).
stormtux Apr 22
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When a restructuring company splits in two it is usually because they want to keep the "good" parts and put the "bad" parts in a "bad company" that can be left to die. This is a little different, why 3 companies? The "AAA" company is probably the profitable one, the one they plan to keep milking. But the other two? Two different levels of risk of investment?
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