Embracer Group has announced its intention to split the company into three separate entities going forward in what appears to be a drastic attempt to streamline its operations and rebuild its reputation after months of downsizing and layoffs.
Announced via official site (Thank you, VGC), the company confirmed that each entity will be listed on Nasdasq Stockholm and will be called ‘Asmodee’, “Coffee stain and friends”and “Enterprises and friends from Middle-earth”.
As for what each company will be doing, Embracer laid it out as follows:
Asmodeus, the world’s leading publisher and distributor of board games with a wide network of studios and an IP catalog.
“Coffee stain and friends”a diversified gaming entity with a dual focus on indie and A/AA premium and free-to-play games for PC/console and mobile, with a high degree of recurring revenue.
“Companies and friends from Middle-earth”a creative force in the development and publishing of AAA games for PC and consoles, as well as the intellectual property managers of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider, among many others.
So basically, the big ‘AAA’ games will come from ‘Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends’, while the smaller indie and ‘AA’ variant titles will come from ‘Coffee Stain & Friends’. We won’t lie, we didn’t super delighted with the names here; it will be strange to see franchises like Tomb Raider and Dead Island under a company called ‘Middle-earth Enterprises’, but here we are. Times have certainly changed since Tolkien’s day.
Meanwhile, Embracer confirmed that it has entered into a new financing agreement through the Asmodee Group in the total amount of EUR 900 million. This will allow it to ‘repay existing debt and reduce leverage in the remaining Embracer group’.
As for the official reasoning behind the move, Embracer states that it will be able to use “clearer operational strategies and financial profiles” to enable individual financial goals across all three companies, as well as ensuring “the best possible greenlight models, portfolios and go-to-market strategies.” for indie games as well as AAA games’.
However, what seems obvious to us is that the Embracer name has been dragged through the mud over the past year, so if we’re being honest, we’re not particularly surprised to see it ditched for something fresh.
