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Embracer intends to spin off its Coffee Stain Group into a “standalone group of community-driven game developers and publishers” by the end of 2025.

The company announced it would split into three individual companies – Asmodee, Coffee Stain and Friends, and Fellowship Entertainment (previously known as Middle Earth & Friends) – in April 2024.

In this case, Coffee Stain Group – which will consist of “more than 250 passionate game developers and publishers, focused on community driven experiences” – will include Coffee Stain, Ghost Ship, and Tuxedo Labs as well as “certain studios” from Amplifier Game Invest, all based in Scandinavia. Anton Westbergh, CEO and co-founder of Coffee Stain, will become Group CEO.

“The shares in Coffee Stain Group will be distributed to the shareholders of Embracer, and are intended to be listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm. Fellowship Entertainment (current Embracer Group) will remain listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and have around 6000 employees across 30 countries, “stewarding” the commercial rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, as well as IPs like Kingdom Come Deliverance, Metro, Dead Island, Killing Floor, Darksiders, Remnant, and Tomb Raider.

“We’re really proud of everything we’ve built as part of Embracer, and grateful for the support and trust we’ve received over the years. Now, as we take the step to become a separately listed company, it feels both exciting and, honestly, a little bit scary – but in a good way,” said Anton Westbergh, co-founder and Group CEO of Coffee Stain.

The games industry is more competitive than ever, but also more rewarding if you do things right, and we believe this move gives us the clarity and control to navigate the landscape better on our own terms. We can now focus even more on what we do best – supporting our developers, staying close to our communities, and building an even brighter future for Coffee Stain.

Lars Wingefors, co-founder and Group CEO of Embracer, added: “Coffee Stain Group has incredible talent, IPs and communities. To date, it has been a true recipe for success. I am confident in Anton’s strategy and leadership and see a clear long-term opportunity in attracting and enabling partnerships with like-minded independent game developers and talents.”

Earlier today, we reported THQ Nordic’s studio Campfire Cabal has returned after being shuttered in 2023. Announcing the news, the developer disputed it had ever “shut down” despite closing as part of THQ Nordic’s parent company Embracer’s restructuring efforts.

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Damn, the nice little friendship thing Embracer Group had decided to morph into after earning the ire of lots of folks by going hard on the layoffs, closures and sales is no more.

The company’s decided to ditch the “and friends” tag it had given to different bits of its business, and form a fellowship, as it does yet more corporate shuffling around. It does also plan to actually release some more games.

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As announced by Embracer, the bit of previously dubbed Middle-Earth and Friends will now be known as Fellowship Entertainment. As you might have guessed, that’s the part that looks after The Lord of the Rings, as well as housing the studios behind likes of Kingdom Come Deliverance, Tomb Raider, the Metro series, and Dead Island.

With Asmodee, the second of the three bits Embracer divided itself into last year, having spun off from the company as of February this year, it’s the turn of the third bit formerly known as Coffee Stain & Friends to do the same. Now named Coffee Stain Group, the subsidiary that includes the dev teams behind the likes of Deep Rock Galactic, Valheim and Goat Simulator is being released into the economic wild as a separately stock market-listed company.

“The games industry is more competitive than ever, but also more rewarding if you do things right, and we believe this move gives us the clarity and control to navigate the landscape better on our own terms,” Coffee Stain Group CEO Anton Westbergh said, “We can now focus even more on what we do best—supporting our developers, staying close to our communities, and building an even brighter future for Coffee Stain.”

Right, that’s enough on the corporate shuffling of people’s livelihoods. In the financial results it’s published alongside this spin-off announcement, Embracer says that it’s got “76 different games” it plans to release in the coming financial year. There’ll be “a mix of new IPs, sequels, and remasters”, including Killing Floor 3 and the recently delayed Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, with Embracer expecting the latter to “drive notable revenues but to have lower margins due to shared economics with several other partners”.

Another as of yet unannounced AAA game that Embracer things will have “financial dynamics more similar to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2” is also in the works, but the company reckons it’ll have to be pushed back to the 2026/27 financial year to allow for more “polish”

The rest of the lineup for the upcoming is being filled by the likes of Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core, Metal Eden, and “the next SpongeBob SquarePants game”. Spongebob Squarepants tries to get to the Bikini Bottom of where Embracer’s friends have gone, maybe?

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