Embracer has announced that it is spinning off Coffee Stain Group – formerly known as Coffee Stain & Friends – into a standalone group of developers and publishers. As a result of this, what remains of Embracer Group, a division formerly known as Middle-Earth & Friends, will be renamed to Fellowship Entertainment. As part of this move, shares in Coffee Stain Group will be distributed to shareholders of Embracer and will go on to be listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm. Fellowship’s stocks will continue to be listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
As a result of this move, Coffee Stain Group will take with it 250 employees among its development and publishing divisions. The overall group will include Coffee Stain, Tuxedo Labs, and Ghost Ship, along with some Scandinavia-based studios from Amplifier Game Investment. Some of the IPs under Coffee Stain Group will be Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, Satisfactory, Teardown, Valheim, and Welcome to Bloxburg.
Fellowship Entertainment, on the other hand, will focus on transforming its business into a group that can handle game development and publishing, as well as the development of new IPs that can be spin-off into transmedia properties, including comics, merchandise, and film. Companies under Fellowship Entertainment include 4A Games, Aspyr Media, CrazyLabs, Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, Dark Horse, Deca Games, Eidos-Montréal, Flying Wild Hog, Gunfire Games, Limited Run Games, Middle-earth Enterprises, Milestone, PLAION, Tarsier Studios, THQ Nordic, Tripwire Interactive, Vertigo Games, and Warhorse Studios. These are among the 40 different companies under Fellowship Entertianment.
“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,” wrote Coffee Stain founder and group CEO Anton Westbergh. “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.”
“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.”
Embracer co-founder and group CEO Lars Wingefors also had a statement where he praised the talent, IPs and communities under Coffee Stain Group. The decision to split the company off was seemingly made because of Westbergh’s strategies and leadership for the long-term health and success of the company.
“Coffee Stain Group has incredible talent, IPs and communities. To date, it has been a true recipe for success,” said Wingefors. “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.”
While the move looks largely like it might end up being a good thing for all parties involved, only time will tell how they might end up affecting the developers at all of the studios, as well as the games that they’re making, that will be affected.