After recently selling Saber Interactive, the home of SnowRunner and MudRunner, to the new Beacon Interactive company, there’s another big resutructuring as Embracer Group will split into 3 seperate companies.
This will mean a trio of standalone publicly listed entities, with two of them including the racing game developers currently within the Embracer portfolio. Going forwards, Asmodee will be the publisher and distributor of board games, trading cards and digital board games. But more importantly, the currently listed Embracer will become what’s currently named “Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends”, and will include Plaion, the home of Milestone, developers of the official MotoGP titles, the Hot Wheels Unleashed and Ride franchises, and the upcoming Monster Jam Showdown.
Meanwhile both Bugbear Entertainment (Wreckfest), and Rainbow Studios (MX vs ATV Legends) will be part of a new business currently titled “Coffee Stain & Friends”
What this means for the individual racing games and developers is yet to be seen, although the fact that the already separate Beacon Interactive is continuing to work closely across a range of current and upcoming Embracer titles means that it’s probably more about shareholder value than ending any possible collaboration between Milestone and Rainbow Studios, for example.
The exact allocation of companies and assets is still subject to minor potential adjustments in the period leading up to the spin-off for the “Coffee Stain & Friends” business, meaning that Milestone could still be moved, for example, considering the Middle Earth company will be operating with a focus on the Lord of the Rings and a number of other key IPs. While the official MotoGP and Hot Wheels licenses are good assets to have, they might not fit with the scale of some of the other properties mentioned in the official announcement (E.g. Tomb Raider).
Anton Westbergh, the current CEO of Coffee Stain, will take the lead role in the process leading up to the separation of “Coffee Stain & Friends), while currently interim Group Chief Strategy Officer at Embracer, Phil Rogers, will lead “Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends”.
One potential benefit is that the slightly smaller scale of the market for most racing games, particularly those targetting a comparative niche like motorcycling (or Beacon Interactive’s Dakar Desert Rally), could be more notable and get greater support within relatively smaller organisations. Although it’s worth remembering each of the three companies will still be managing billions in sales, and thousands of employees in large groups of developers and publishers.
There’s probably going to be little noticeable impact for most sim racers and gamers, although it’s worth noting that GTRevival also announced a publishing deal with Plaion last year, and could be another title potentially impacted by all the restructuring.
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