Embracer Group embraces its new future as three separate companies including 'Middle-earth and Friends', which its CEO says 'reinforces Embracer's vision of backing entrepreneurs and creators with a long-term mindset'

Embracer Group has announced it is transforming into three separate, publicly listed companies, respectively named Asmodee Corp, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends.

In a press release, Embracer Group explains that each of the three companies will be listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange, with Asmodee Group and Coffee Stain & Friends being newly listed entities, while Middle Earth & Friends will «remain within the current listed company Embracer Group, which will subsequently be renamed».

According to Embracer, the three companies have been organised to «better focus on their respective core strategies», with each built around a different part of the holding company's business. Asmodee Group will remain oriented around distribution and publication of tabletop games, while Coffee Stain and Friends will have a «dual focus» on indie and mid-budget PC and console games.

Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, Embracer says, will be a «creative powerhouse» of AAA developers, with stewardship of licenses like Tomb Raider, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and of course The Lord of the Rings. It will oversee studios like Crystal Dynamic, Eidos Montreal, Dambuster Studios, Tripwire Interactive, Flying Wild Hog, and Warhorse Studios.

In an open letter, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said that Embracer's journey «has not always been a straight road» but that the ongoing transformation «is the start of a new chapter, a chapter that I intend to remain part of as an active, committed, and supportive shareholder of all three new entities.» The transition from one company to three, he claims, «reinforces Embracer's vision of backing entrepreneurs and creators with a long-term mindset.»

It's surprising, to say the least, to hear Wingefors discuss Embracer's 'long-term' mindset considering the company's business strategy up to now. In the space of just seven years, Embracer Group acquired over 100 game companies, all to facilitate a mysterious $2 billion dollar