Embracer Group Acquires 3D Realms, Ghost Ship Games, Slipgate Ironworks, and More - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 August 2021 / 2,062 Views
Embracer Group announced it has acquired eight more studios. This includes 3D Realms, CrazyLabs, DigixArt, Easy Trigger, Force Field, Ghost Ship Games, Grimfrost, and Slipgate Ironworks.
Here is an overview of the acquisitions:
Coffee Stain Studios
Easy Trigger
Embracer Group AB, through its wholly owned subsidiary Coffee Stain Studios AB, have entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Easy Trigger AB, the studio behind the critically acclaimed title Huntdown.
Through the acquisition, Coffee Stain onboards a talented team that will boost the development of first party IP within the group. Going forward, Easy Trigger will collaborate with Coffee Stain to continue working on the Huntdown IP as well as creating new original indie titles.
Ghost Ship Games
Embracer Group AB, through its wholly owned subsidiary Coffee Stain Holding AB, has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Ghost Ship Holding ApS and thereby acquires the remaining 70 percent of Ghost Ship Games ApS.
Ghost Ship Games is an award-winning studio composed of industry veterans with an established relationship with Coffee Stain.
Through the acquisition, Coffee Stain onboards an experienced team with proven capabilities of creating excellent indie IP. Ghost Ship Games will remain autonomous and Embracer and Coffee Stain look forward to supporting the studio with new game development projects going forward.
Embracer Group
CrazyLabs
Embracer Group AB has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in CrazyLabs Ltd. from the current owners.
CrazyLabs is an Israel-based publisher and developer of hit mobile game Super Stylist and long-lasting casual and lifestyle role playing games. Additionally, CrazyLabs is one of the top hyper-casual publishers. CrazyLabs was the third most downloaded publisher in all of mobile games in 2020 with over 4.5 billion downloads to date and over 110 million monthly active users.
CrazyLabs will improve Embracer’s publishing capabilities within mobile, add scale and create additional M&A opportunities. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary conditions including merger control approval. Closing is expected to take place during the second quarter of Embracer’s financial year.
Grimfrost
Embracer Group AB has entered into an agreement with the owners of Varyag Group AB (doing business as Grimfrost) to acquire 70 percent of Varyag Group AB. Grimfrost is an e-commerce specialist and a leading player with a global brand within high-quality Viking merchandise.
Koch Media
DigixArt
Embracer Group AB, through its wholly owned subsidiary Koch Media GmbH, has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in the France-based DigixArt from its current owners.
DigixArt is a development studio and the creator of Lost in Harmony, 11-11 Memories Retold, and upcoming title Road 96.
DigixArt will continue to operate as an independent studio under Koch Media.
Force Field
Embracer Group AB, through its operative group Koch Media GmbH, and wholly owned subsidiary Vertigo Games B.V., has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Force Field B.V.
Force Field is a leading VR development studio with a portfolio of multiple award-winning VR titles, including Oculus Studios’ titles Landfall, Time Stall, and Coaster Combat.
Through the acquisition, Vertigo Games onboards an experienced team that enables increased first party AAA VR development capabilities to fuel rapid growth in the VR market. Going forward, Force Field will operate as an independent subsidiary to Vertigo Games and continue to produce innovative and creative VR titles.
Saber Interactive
3D Realms
Embracer Group AB, through its wholly owned subsidiary Saber Interactive, has today entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in 3D Realms Entertainment ApS.
3D Realms, based in Aalborg, Denmark, is a game publisher with over 30 years of heritage in the industry and the creators of cult game series Duke Nukem. Through the acquisition, Saber onboards an experienced Danish publisher with an owner-led management team that will work closely with the Saber team going forward.
The studio has a current pipeline of six new game titles and several exciting projects in collaboration with Slipgate Ironworks.
Through the acquisition, Saber onboards a connected, experienced publisher with a long background in games development. Going forward, 3D Realms will continue to operate as a subsidiary under Saber and work closely with the Saber team on publishing projects.
As part of the acquisition, CEO Mike Nielsen will step down and Frederik Schreiber will assume the role of CEO. Mike Nielsen will remain attached as an advisor.
Slipgate Ironworks
Embracer Group AB, through its wholly owned subsidiary Saber Interactive, has today entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Slipgate Ironworks ApS and 40 percent of the shares in 3D Realms Entertainment ApS.
Slipgate, based in Aalborg, Denmark, is a game development studio with long experience in collaborating with leading publishers and IP-owners on a broad range of projects. Through the acquisition, Embracer onboards a strong team with proven expertise in development, co-development and porting.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Kinda want Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to pick up the acquisitions... Mostly as a counter balance to Embracer.
Um, why? It's not like Embracer is a competitor to either.
Embracer Group has 75 internal studios.
What I don't want to see is big publishers gaining "leverage" over platform holders as they can start to dictate terms, good or bad.
In saying that... It is a good counter-balance to Tencent which has "investments" (Aka. Financial leverage) in 300+ gaming companies.
The issue is once companies get "big" like EA, Activision etc'. They tend to start taking less risks and stick with franchises/formulas on a yearly basis and don't put the consumer first.
It's just not good for us the consumer.
It's not good if Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony gobble them up either, but better than having massive conglomerates that can dictate market terms.
This is getting out of hand.
How many more studios do they plan to acquire?
EmbrAcer is turning into the European EA.
Ubisoft is European EA.
Maybe we can get a quality Duke Nukem game in a shorter period f time than Duke Nuken Forever.
Gobble gobble gobble
oh no, not Ghostship...
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