Embracer Group AB
Moby ID: 11887
- THQ Nordic AB (from 2016-09-30 to 2019-09-17)
- Nordic Games Group AB (from 2013 to 2016-08-16)
- Nordic Games Publishing AB (from 2008 to 2013)
Overview edit · view history
Embracer Group AB is a holding company of a multitude of entertainment companies and intellectual properties. It was founded as Nordic Games Publishing AB on 22 August 2008 as a publishing company by the Swedish retail company Game Outlet Europe AB, and headed by publishing director Pelle Lundborg. The company was a sister company of Nordic Games GmbH, a wholly owned publishing subsidiary of Nordic Games Group AB (formerly known as Nordic Games Holding AB).
By March 2011, Nordic Games Holding (later known as Nordic Games Group) had been established as a holding company, with Game Outlet Europe and Nordic Games Publishing aligned as its subsidiaries. In the summer of the same year, Nordic Games Holding acquired assets from JoWooD and its affiliate companies, hired a small group of ex-JoWooD employees, and later that year this team was integrated with the existing Nordic Games Publishing team into Nordic Games GmbH.
In June 2014, the company acquired the THQ brand, and it would rename itself THQ Nordic alongside its publishing arm on 30 September 2016. To avoid confusion between the two, the holding company would rename itself again to Embracer Group AB on 17 September 2019.
In the second half of the 2010s and early 2020s, Embracer Group would rapidly acquire a large number of game companies, but also companies in other media (such as Middle-earth Enterprises, Asmodee, Dark Horse Media).
By June 2023, the company was in negotiations with a Saudi Arabian investment firm Savvy Games Group over a US$ 2 billion deal, but it fell through in the last minute. After this, Embracer group announced a major restructuring, resulting in mass layoffs throughout the company and its subsidiaries, several studio closures and project cancellations.
On 22 April 2024, the company announced to split into 3 separate companies publicly listed at Nasdaq Stockholm: Asmodee & Friends (board gaming), Coffee Stain & Friends (indie, A/AA and mobile video games), and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends (AAA video games, holding the Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider intellectual properties), all under the ownership of the Embracer Group's founder's investment firm Lars Wingefors AB.
Operative groups
At its peak in early 2023, the company was divided into 12 operative groups.
Names in italics used to be subsidiaries, but no longer are as they were closed or sold off.
- THQ Nordic (video games)
- Alkimia Interactive
- Appeal Studios
- Ashborne Games
- Black Forest Games
- Bugbear Entertainment
- Campfire Cabal (closed in 2023)
- Experiment 101
- Foxglove Studios (sold in 2019)
- Gate21
- Grimlore Games
- Gunfire Games
- Handy-Games
- Kaiko
- Metricminds
- Mirage Game Studios
- Nine Rocks Games
- Pieces Interactive (closed in 2024)
- Piranha Bytes (closed in 2024)
- Pow Wow Entertainment
- Purple Lamp Game Development
- Rainbow Studios
- Plaion (video games and "entertainment products")
- labels Deep Silver, Prime Matter, Ravenscourt
- Anime Limited
- Dambuster Studios
- Free Radical Design relaunch (founded in 2021, closed in 2023)
- DigixArt Entertainment
- DPI Merchandising
- Fishlabs
- Flying Wild Hog (Warsaw)
- Milestone
- Plaion Pictures
- Plaion Services
- Sola Media
- Splatter Group
- Vertigo Games
- Voxler
- Warhorse Studios
- Coffee Stain (video games)
- Box Dragon
- Coffee Stain Studios
- Easy Trigger Games
- Ghost Ship Games
- Iron Gate (listed as "associated studio", not an internal one)
- Lavapotion
- Amplifier (video games)
- A Creative Endeavor
- DESTINYbit
- Frame Break
- Framebunker (listed as "associated studio", not an internal one)
- Green Tile Digital
- Infinite Mana Games
- Invisible Walls
- Kavalri Games
- Misc Games
- Palindrome Interactive
- Rare Earth
- Studio Hermitage
- Tarsier Studios
- Zapper Games
- Saber Interactive (video games; sold to Beacon Interactive in 2024)
- unassigned leftover of former Saber Interactive operative group as of 2024
- Deca Games (mobile and online games)
- Gearbox Entertainment (video games; sold to Take-Two Interactive in 2024)
- Gearbox Publishing
- Gearbox Software
- Gearbox Studio Montréal
- Gearbox Studio Québec
- unassigned leftover of former Gearbox Entertainment operative group as of 2024
- Arc Games
- Captured Dimensions
- Gearbox Studio Shanghai (status unknown as of 2024)
- Lost Boys Interactive
- Volition (closed in 2023)
- Easybrain (mobile games)
- Asmodee (board games and derived video games)
- Access+
- Atomic Mass Games
- Bezzer Wizzer Studio
- Catan Studio
- Days of Wonder
- Edge Studio
- Exploding Kittens
- Fantasy Flight Games
- Gamegenic
- Libellud
- Lookout Games
- Mixlore
- Officedog
- Plan B Games
- Rebel Studio
- Repos Production
- Space Cow
- Space Cowboys
- Twin Sails Interactive
- Unexpected Games
- Z-Man Games
- Zygomatic
- Dark Horse Media (comic books)
- Dark Horse Comics
- Dark Horse Publishing
- Things From Another World
- Freemode (services and intellectual properties)
- Bitwave
- Clear River Games
- Game Outlet
- Giotick
- Grimfrost
- Limited Run Games
- Middle-earth Enterprises
- Overload PR
- Quantic Lab
- Singtrix
- Tatsujin
- Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montréal - also referred to as CDE Entertainment (video games)
- Crystal Dynamics
- Crystal Northwest
- Crystal Southwest
- Eidos Montréal
- Eidos Sherbrooke (closed in 2023)
Credited on 30 Games from 2009 to 2016
Displaying most recent · View all
Jagged Alliance: Flashback (2014 on Linux, Windows, Macintosh) |
The Guild Collection (2014 on Windows) |
SpellForce: Complete (2014 on Windows) |
Battle Worlds: Kronos (2013 on Linux, Windows, Macintosh...) |
We Sing: Deutsche Hits 2 (2012 on Wii) |
Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (2012 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3...) |
The Book of Unwritten Tales: Digital Deluxe Edition (2012 on Windows) |
We Sing: Pop! (2012 on Wii) |
We Sing: Rock! (2011 on Wii) |
We Sing: UK Hits (2011 on Wii) |
We Sing: Deutsche Hits (2011 on Wii) |
We Sing: Down Under (2011 on Wii) |
Red Faction: Collection (2011 on Windows) |
We Sing: Robbie Williams (2010 on Wii) |
We Sing: Encore (2010 on Wii) |
The Guild 2: Renaissance (2010 on Windows) |
4 in 1 Racing Wheel Pack (2010 on Wii) |
Truck Racer (2009 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Wii) |
Dance Party: Pop Hits (2009 on PlayStation 2, Wii) |
Kart Racer (2009 on Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2) |
[ view all ]
Related Web Sites +
-
Embracer Group AB
official site -
Nordic Games Publishing AB
archived version of 2013-era Nordic Games Publishing AB website -
Nordic Games Group AB
archived version of 2016-era Nordic Games Group AB website
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 13 games with Valve Corporation
- 11 games with Wired Productions, Ltd.
- 8 games with GOG Limited
- 8 games with Le Cortex
- 4 games with Farm 51 Group S.A., The
- 3 games with Epic Games Tools LLC
- 3 games with Deep Silver Volition, LLC
- 2 games with XXv Productions
- 2 games with Broadsword Interactive Limited
- 2 games with Pandemic Studios, LLC
- 5 games with Kirk Somdal
- 5 games with Howard Liebeskind
- 4 games with Lorcan Murphy
- 4 games with Susanne Dieck
- 4 games with Greg Donovan
- 4 games with Philip Holt
- 4 games with Peter Dille
- 4 games with Jim Boone
- 4 games with Bernd Kurtz
- 4 games with Liz Pieri
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