Embracer Group

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Embracer Group AB

logo
legal form Aktiebolag
ISIN SE0013121589 ( B shares )
founding 2008
Seat Karlstad , Sweden
management Lars Wingefors, CEO
Number of employees 2,208
sales 4.7 billion SEK (460 million EUR) (2018)
Branch Media, entertainment and software development
Website embracer.com
As of December 31, 2018

Logo of THQ Nordic (until September 2019 the logo of the group of companies)
Nordic Games logo until August 2016

Embracer Group AB (until September 2019 THQ Nordic AB ) is a Swedish media group based in Karlstad . Operationally, the group of companies appears mainly through the subsidiaries THQ Nordic GmbH in Vienna and Koch Media or Deep Silver . In addition, the Coffee Stain Studios are run as an independent subsidiary. Until 2016 the company operated under the name Nordic Games Publishing AB , from 2016 to 2019 as THQ Nordic AB .

Company history

Beginnings

The company was founded in the early 1990s when the youngster Lars Wingefors opened his own company LW Comics for the exchange and sale of used comics. In the summer of 1993, the business field finally shifted to the sale of computer games, initially used software and modules, and over the years, increasingly, new goods. After a few years, in addition to digital distribution, the company was also represented by several branches in Sweden, Finland and Norway. In April 2000, Nordic Games was acquired in corporate shares by Gameplay, plc for £ 5.96 million . However, as a result of the dot-com bubble , the British company stumbled. In May 2001, Wingefors therefore bought back the now unprofitable Northern Europe department together with some partners for the symbolic price of SEK 1 or the equivalent of 7 British pence. The end customer division (online and catalog trade) was sold, the branches were sold to the companies Game and Gamestop and the business area was restricted to distribution and wholesale. After continuing failure, the company switched to an outlet sales concept in 2004 , with increasing success. After it became more difficult for the company to acquire new goods for its branches, Nordic Games Publishing launched its own development division for computer games in 2008. With the We Sing karaoke series for the Wii game console , Nordic Games was able to land a notable success for the first time.

Acquisition of Jowood and THQ brands

In 2011, Nordic Games took over part of the workforce at the insolvent Austrian games manufacturer JoWooD Entertainment AG . These were transferred to the newly founded Nordic Games GmbH based in Vienna. In addition, Nordic Games acquired the JoWooD product portfolio and the naming rights to the JoWooD, The Adventure Company and DreamCatcher Interactive brands , which the new subsidiary continued to use as a publishing label. As a result, Nordic also got some unpublished development work from Jowood. Nordic Games launched the already completed Fall of Setarrif add-on for Arcania - Gothic 4 as the first release in September .

In May 2012, Nordic Games took over the 55 Swedish and Norwegian branches and the associated online offerings from the insolvent British computer game retailer Game.

In the course of the auction of the product catalog of the battered games publisher THQ on April 15, 2013, the company received the rights to 150 previous THQ titles, including the series Darksiders , Destroy All Humans! For $ 4.9 million ! , Full Spectrum Warrior , Juiced , MX vs. ATV , Red Faction , Summoner , the action role-playing game Titan Quest and licensed products such as Marvel Super Hero Squad and Supreme Commander . On June 25, 2013, Nordic Games announced that the company had acquired the trademark rights to the Desperados game series and the action role-playing game Silver .

Further acquisitions and in-house productions

In April Nordic acquired the rights to the adventure brand Black Mirror from dtp entertainment . In June 2014 Nordic Games announced that it had also acquired the brand name THQ and that it wanted to publish its games under this label in the future, as the company had not previously been able to build up sufficient awareness of its original name. In November, the THQ series de Blob was finally acquired. Also in November, Nordic Games officially announced the opening of the internal Grimlore Games development studio in Munich and the responsibility of the team for Spellforce 3 . In December 2014, the takeover of further brands of dtp Entertainment by Nordic Games Licensing AB was announced. These were the adventure titles The Moment of Silence , The Secret of the Druids and The Secret of the Ghost Ship , originally programmed by the Bremen-based developer studio House of Tales , and Nordic Games also took over the commercial use of the titles Overclocked and 15 Days . Marketing was carried out by Nordic Games GmbH Vienna.

In April 2015, Nordic Games acquired the rights to the Men of Valor brand from 2015 Games . In August 2015, the company took over the full trademark rights to Jagged Alliance as well as the distribution rights for some other games ( Panzer Tactics HD , Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams , North & South , Citadels , Bridge Project ) from the insolvent bitcomposer Games . In the same month, the company started a crowdfunding campaign for Aquanox: Deep Descent together with developer Digital Arrow . The company was looking for additional funding of at least $ 75,000 to continue the ongoing development. By September it raised around $ 96,000. In September, Nordic Games acquired the rights to the space strategy game Nexus: The Jupiter Incident and the real-time strategy series Codename: Panzers .

Change of name to THQ Nordic

In February 2016, Nordic Games announced the takeover of further brands, including the series rights to Imperium Galactica , the ideal predecessor of Nexus: The Jupiter Incident , and the side scroller Sine Mora . On August 12, 2016, Nordic Games announced that they would be renaming themselves THQ Nordic and thus bring the old THQ brand back to life. In October 2016, the game catalog and trademark were acquired from NovaLogic , a long-time developer of military and combat simulations. The deal included the game series Delta Force , Comanche , Armored Fist and F-22 , as well as various individual titles such as Joint Operations or Tachyon: The Fringe . In November, Destroy All Humans was released for purchase as a PS2 Classic title on PlayStation Network for PlayStation 4. On November 22nd, THQ Nordic AB issued 20 million B-Shares of the company on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm to raise additional funds for the development and marketing of its own products. Simultaneously with the takeover of the Eurocom title Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy from Mobile Gaming Studios and War Leaders: Clash of Nations and Legends of War from Enigma Software Productions in December 2016, THQ Nordic announced its commitment to the upcoming Nintendo console Switch . With Mirage Game Studios, another developer studio was founded at the group's location in Karlstad at the end of 2016. In the same month, sales for its own productions in Europe and German-speaking countries were transferred to Koch Media . In August 2017, the internal development capacities were increased through two further takeovers: the Offenburg developer studio Black Forest Games and its brands (including Giana Sisters , Rogue Stormers , Airline Tycoon , Helldorado ) were taken over for 1.35 million euros, and the Swedish developer Pieces Interactive became part of the group for 2.8 million Swedish kronor . In November 2017, the takeover of the Swedish developer Experiment 101, which at that time was already working on Biomutant together with THQ Nordic, followed for 75.3 million Swedish kronor or the equivalent of around 8.9 million US dollars .

Acquisitions of Koch Media and Coffee Stain

In February 2018, THQ Nordic announced the acquisition of 100 percent of the share capital of its previous sales partner Koch Media for 121 million euros. As a result of the deal, in addition to the distribution network, the game label Deep Silver including the development studios Volition , Fishlabs and Dambuster Studios and its trademark portfolio (including Risen , Saints Row , Metro , Homefront , Sacred , Dead Island ) were taken over. However, according to the company's wishes, the previous structures should be retained and continued separately from THQ Nordic. In order to be able to finance further acquisitions, the company issued a further 7.7 million shares in June 2018 and in return has raised around 140 million euros in capital. In July 2018, the takeover of the German developer HandyGames, including all trademark rights, took place for one million euros in cash plus performance-based bonus payments. With the acquisition, THQ Nordic primarily wanted to secure HandyGames' sales network for mobile games and expertise in VR development. In August 2018, THQ Nordic acquired the rights to the titles TimeSplitters and Second Sight , which were originally developed by Dambuster Studios under their former company name, Free Radical Design. The licenses were passed on to Koch Media / Deep Silver for support.

In September 2018, THQ Nordic acquired the trademark rights to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and the associated, unfinished MMO from 38 studios. The marketing rights remained unchanged with Electronic Arts . In the same month Atari gave the rights to Alone in the Dark and Act of War to the Swedish company. November 2018, the Swedish developer studio Coffee Stain (including Goat Simulator , Sanctum ) for 317 million Swedish kronor (~ 31 million euros) and the Finnish studio Bugbear Entertainment ( Wreckfest ) for an undisclosed amount. Coffee Stain was integrated into the group as the third, independent business unit. THQ Nordic also acquired the trademark rights to the expeditions strategy games ( Expeditions: Conquistador , Expeditions: Viking ) from the independent developer Logic Artists. At the same time, the development of a third series part was announced. In December 2018 Stainless Games sold the trademark rights to Carmageddon to the Swedish publisher.

In January 2019, THQ Nordic took over another brand, the action adventure Outcast from Appeal Software, which only received a remake called Outcast: Second Contact in 2017 . In order to finance further acquisitions and takeovers, eleven million new preferred shares were issued again in February for 2.09 billion Swedish kronor (about 225 million US dollars) . In May 2019, THQ Nordic acquired the developer studio Piranha Bytes ( Elex , Gothic , Risen ) and the associated trademark rights. In August 2019, the Texas development studio Gunfire Games and - via Koch Media - the Italian racing game specialist Milestone followed. At the same time, THQ Nordic also acquired the Swedish investment company Goodbye Kansas Game Invest (GKGI), which brought the group minority interests in five studio start-ups (Palindrome Interactive, Fall Damage, Neon Giant, Kavalri and Framebunker) as well as GKGI's share in the turnover in Biomutant . Foxglove Studio (formerly THQ Nordic Mobile), which was founded internally in 2016 and specializes in free-to-play , was sold to its employees according to the 2018/2019 annual report because the studio did not achieve the desired profitability.

Change of name to Embracer Group and takeovers from 2020

In order to be able to better differentiate between the activities of the group and its publishing subsidiary, THQ Nordic AB announced on August 16, 2019 that it would rename the umbrella group the Embracer Group. The subsidiary THQ Nordic GmbH in Vienna should continue to operate under the previous name. The resolution was adopted at the Annual General Meeting on September 17, 2019.

In February 2020, the Embracer Group took over the Saber Interactive development studio based in Maplewood, New Jersey , United States .

On August 13, 2020, the company took over seven further development studios : 4A Games , New World Interactive ( Insurgency ), DECA Games, Vermila Studios, Rare Earth Games, and Pow Wow Entertainment, as well as the German distributor of animated films Sola Media and the remaining 50% to Palindrome Interactive.

Corporate structure

The Embracer Group owns three independently operating business units with Vienna-based THQ Nordic GmbH (since 2011), Coffee Stain in Skövde, Sweden (since 2018) and the Koch Media Group in Höfen and Planegg near Munich, Austria (since 2018).

THQ Nordic markets the majority of the acquired licenses and develops them further under its own name. Smaller productions are sometimes marketed under the name of the HandyGames subsidiary. In addition to external contractors, there are several own development studios that produce new products and brand continuations:

  • Rainbow Studios ( Phoenix / USA, founded in 2013)
  • Grimlore Games ( Munich / Germany, founded in 2014)
  • Mirage Game Studios ( Karlstad / Sweden, founded in 2016)
  • Black Forest Games ( Offenburg / Germany, takeover 2017)
  • Experiment 101 ( Stockholm / Sweden, acquisition 2017)
  • Pieces Interactive (Skövde / Sweden, takeover 2017)
  • Bugbear Entertainment ( Helsinki / Finland, takeover 2018)
  • HandyGames ( Giebelstadt / Germany, takeover 2018)
  • Piranha Bytes ( Essen / Germany, takeover 2019)
  • Gunfire Games ( Austin / USA, takeover 2019)
  • Pow Wow Entertainment, (Vienna / Austria, takeover 2020)
  • Deca Live Operations GmbH (Germany, takeover 2020)
  • THQ Nordic Barcelona ( Barcelona / Spain, founded in 2019)

Koch Media operates under the labels Deep Silver and Ravenscourt as a distributor and publisher for computer games on the European market and maintains a distribution division for application software . With Koch Films, the group has another mainstay in the film sector. Koch also includes the development studios:

Coffee Stain includes the development studios:

  • Coffee Stain Studios (Skövde / Sweden)
  • Coffee Stain North (Stockholm / Sweden)
  • Lavapotion ( Gothenburg / Sweden)

Saber Interactive

  • 4A Games, (Sliema / Malta, takeover 2020)
  • New World Interactive (Denver, Colorado / USA, takeover in 2020)

Amplifier Game Invest

  • Vermila Studios (Madrid / Spain, takeover 2020)
  • Rare Earth Games (Austria, takeover 2020)
  • Palindrome Interactive (Skövde / Sweden, takeover 50% in 2019, and increase to 100% in August 2020)
  • River End Games (Gothenburg / Sweden, takeover 2020)
  • Tarsier Studios (Malmö / Sweden, takeover 2019)
  • C77 Entertainment (Seattle, Washington / USA, takeover in 2020)
  • DestinyBit (Ravenna / Italy, takeover 2020)
  • Misc Games (Stavanger / Norway, takeover 2019)

Trademark and publication rights acquired

The year of acquisition is in brackets

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THQ Nordic Annual Report 2018/29. (PDF) THQ Nordic AB, p. 14 , accessed on September 22, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ INTERIM REPORT • JANUARY 1 - DECEMBER 31, 2018. Accessed March 7, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ Embracer Group (ed.): Embracer AGM Presentation . S. 9 (English, embracer.com [PDF; 31.8 MB ; accessed on September 22, 2019]).
  4. ↑ a b Nordic Games Group: Group History ( Memento from July 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Gameplay.com buys Nordic Games
  6. ↑ Gameplay division sold for £ 1
  7. ^ Nordic Games Holding AB Group Acquires JoWood & The Adventure Company . Nordic Games. August 16, 2011. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011. Retrieved on August 17, 2011.
  8. ^ Nordic Games Holding AB Group acquires DreamCatcher . Nordic Games GmbH. November 17, 2011. Archived from the original on December 11, 2011. Retrieved on December 11, 2011.
  9. ↑ About Nordic Games GmbH
  10. ↑ Arcania: Fall of Setarrif - Addon for Gothic 4 appears via Nordic Games . In: PC GAMES . ( pcgames.de [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  11. ^ Eric Caoili: Nordic Games buys Game Group's Scandinavian business . ( gamasutra.com [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  12. ↑ Alexander Sliwinski: THQ auction results: Nordic Games takes Darksiders, Red Faction; 505 Games is Drawn to Life ( English ) In: Joystiq . AOL . April 22, 2013. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved on April 24, 2013.
  13. ↑ Andre Linken: Nordic Games - Publisher secures the rights to Desperados and Silver ( English ) In: GameStar . IDG . June 25, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  14. ^ Nordic Games acquires rights to Atari's Desperados and Silver . In: polygon . ( polygon.com [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  15. ↑ Black Mirror - Nordic Games takes over Adventure brand . ( gamestar.de [accessed on June 20, 2018]).
  16. ^ THQ trademark acquired by Nordic Games . In: polygon . ( polygon.com [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Mike Suszek: Nordic officially purchases de Blob series from THQ. (No longer available online.) In: Joystiq . Archived from the original on December 8, 2014 ; Retrieved August 17, 2019 (American English).
  18. ↑ Nordic Games opens new Munich studio . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  19. ^ THQ Nordic: "The Moment of Silence" and other dtp licenses bought . In: 4Players . ( 4players.de [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Mike Suszek: Nordic acquires adventure games from Awesomenauts publisher. (No longer available online.) In: Joystiq . Archived from the original on February 15, 2015 ; Retrieved August 17, 2019 (American English).
  21. ↑ THQ Nordic: rights to "Men of Valor" taken over - 4Players.de . In: 4Players . ( 4players.de [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  22. ↑ Tobias Ritter: Nordic Games - Sichert sich u. a. Rights to Jagged Alliance and Giana Sisters. In: GameStar . Webedia , August 17, 2015, accessed February 20, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Aquanox Deep Descent: Kickstarter campaign for underwater action ended successfully [update] . In: PC Games Hardware . ( pcgameshardware.de [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  24. ↑ News: Nexus IP Acquired by Nordic Games. Retrieved June 20, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Nordic acquires code name: Panzers franchise . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  26. ↑ Nordic acquires Digital Reality IP Imperium Galactica, Sine Mora, others - VG247 . In: VG247 . February 2, 2016 ( vg247.com [accessed June 20, 2018]).
  27. ↑ Nordic Games - Will revive 13 old THQ brands and become THQ Nordic. In: GameStar. August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2016 .
  28. ↑ THQ Nordic: NovaLogic brands secured. Retrieved January 15, 2017 .
  29. ↑ Destroy All Humans, Red Faction 2 Coming to PS4. In: PlayStation LifeStyle. November 1, 2016, accessed January 15, 2017 .
  30. ^ BRIEF-THQ Nordic: Listing on Nasdaq First North Stockholm . In: Reuters . November 7, 2016 ( reuters.com [accessed February 14, 2017]).
  31. ↑ THQ Nordic valuation grows to € 190 million after IPO on Nasdaq First North - Tech.eu . In: Tech.eu . ( tech.eu [accessed February 14, 2017]).
  32. ^ THQ Nordic acquires more franchises to prepare for the Nintendo Switch. In: VentureBeat. Retrieved January 15, 2017 .
  33. ↑ Bengt Lemne: THQ Nordic opens a new studio in Sweden . In: Gamereactor UK . ( gamereactor.eu [accessed June 18, 2018]).
  34. ↑ Koch Media takes over the distribution of THQ Nordic - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . May 22, 2017 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed June 17, 2018]).
  35. ↑ THQ Nordic buys Black Forest Games - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . August 21, 2017 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed June 17, 2018]).
  36. ^ Dragos Novac: THQ Nordic buys Pieces Interactive, one of the veteran Swedish gaming companies, for $ 350k. Retrieved June 17, 2018 .
  37. ↑ Chris Kerr: THQ Nordic acquires Biomutant developer Experiment 101 . ( gamasutra.com [accessed June 18, 2018]).
  38. ^ THQ Nordic acquires Koch Media GmbH. Retrieved February 14, 2018 .
  39. ↑ THQ Nordic buys Koch Media - Publisher from Kingdom Come with a new owner . In: GameStar . ( gamestar.de [accessed June 17, 2018]).
  40. ↑ THQ Nordic AB: 140 million euros for acquisitions - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . June 15, 2018 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed September 11, 2018]).
  41. ↑ THQ Nordic AB takes over HandyGames - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . July 9, 2018 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed September 11, 2018]).
  42. ↑ THQ Nordic - Publisher buys rights to Timesplitters and Second Sight . ( gamestar.de [accessed on August 19, 2018]).
  43. ↑ Kingdoms of Amalur - THQ Nordic buys brand, what can you expect? ( gamestar.de [accessed on September 11, 2018]).
  44. ^ A THQ Nordic Kingdoms of Amalur remaster would require the go-ahead from EA . In: Eurogamer.net . ( eurogamer.net [accessed September 11, 2018]).
  45. ↑ Alone in the Dark: THQ Nordic buys trademark rights - GamesWirtschaft.de . In: GamesWirtschaft.de . September 19, 2018 ( gameswirtschaft.de [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  46. ↑ James Batchelor: THQ Nordic acquires Bugbear Entertainment and Coffee Stain studios. In: Gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved October 4, 2019 .
  47. ↑ Chris Kerr: THQ Nordic acquires rights to Expeditions franchise . ( gamasutra.com [accessed November 16, 2018]).
  48. ↑ Carmageddon - THQ Nordic buys trademark rights to the brutal racing series. December 4, 2018, accessed January 14, 2019 .
  49. ↑ Stefan Köhler: THQ Nordic - Publisher buys the Outcast brand. In: Gamestar. January 10, 2019, accessed January 14, 2019 .
  50. ↑ James Batchelor: THQ Nordic raises $ 225m for further acquisitions. In: Gamesindustry.biz. February 21, 2019, accessed October 4, 2019 .
  51. ↑ THQ Nordic acquires legendary game studio Piranha Bytes. May 22, 2019, accessed on May 22, 2019 .
  52. ↑ Peter Steinlechner: THQ Nordic takes over Gunfire Games and Milestone. In: Golem.de . August 14, 2019, accessed August 17, 2019 .
  53. ↑ Koch Media acquires Milestone. In: Gamesmarkt. Retrieved October 4, 2019 .
  54. ^ THQ Nordic acquires Goodbye Kansas Game Invest. In: Gematsu. August 14, 2019, Retrieved October 4, 2019 (American English).
  55. ↑ THQ Nordic: Annual Report 2018/19 . ( cision.com [PDF]).
  56. ↑ Embracer Group: New name for THQ Nordic AB. In: Games Economy. August 14, 2019, accessed August 23, 2019 .
  57. ^ Announcement from THQ Nordic's annual general meeting. In: Embracer Group. September 17, 2019, accessed on September 22, 2019 .
  58. ↑ Embracer Group (formerly THQ Nordic) buys Saber Interactive. In: 4Players . February 19, 2020, accessed August 14, 2020 .
  59. ↑ THQ Nordics parent company Embracer Group takes over Metro developer 4A Games and six other studios. August 13, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 .
  60. ↑ Embracer Group Acquires 8 studios; Tencent Gaming Revenue up 40%. August 13, 2020, accessed on August 14, 2020 .
  61. ↑ Andreas Bertits: Gothic: Remake announced, playable prototype published. In: PC Games . December 13, 2019, accessed December 14, 2019 .
  62. ^ THQ Nordic Barcelona. Retrieved December 14, 2019 .