Embracer Group AB, a Swedish holding company specializing in the development and publishing of video games, has decided to split into three separate companies. Ukrainian studio 4A Games will remain in the structure of one of them.
Three new companies:
Asmodee Group: to become a publisher and distributor of board games, card games and digital board games. The company has 23 own studios and owns the rights to more than 300 intellectual properties. Asmodee Group's catalog includes board games such as Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Azul, Catan, Dobble, Exploding Kittens, as well as Lord of the Rings, Marvel, Game of Thrones, Netflix, Lego and Star Wars licensed products. . Coffee Stain & Friends: The game company will focus on developing indie games, premium A and AA games, and free-to-play models for PC/consoles and mobile devices. Coffee Stain & Friends will include Coffee Stain, Ghost Ship, Tarsier, Tuxedo Labs, Easybrain, Deca, CrazyLabs and Cryptic, as well as THQ Nordic and Amplifier Game Invest. The franchises owned by the company include: Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Teardown, Valheim, Sudoku.com, Blockudoku, Jigsaw Puzzle, Star Trek Online, D&D Neverwinter Online and over 200 other titles. Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends: will be responsible for developing and publishing AAA games for PC and consoles. The company will also own the rights to the world famous franchises Tomb Raider, Lord of the Rings, Dead Island, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Metro. The team will include the famous studios Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Eidos-Montréal, Flying Wild Hog Studios, Tripwire, Vertigo Games, Warhorse Studios and 4A Games and many others.
The separation is expected to be completed within 12 to 24 months. Shareholders of the Embracer Group will receive shares in the new companies as dividends.
In March 2024, Embracer Group announced that it was exiting the Russian market and selling its “daughter” Saber Interactive for $247 million. Ukrainian game developer Fractured Byte will be transferred to a buyer with Russian roots. Most likely, this is exactly what the Ukrainian 4A Games expected.