Embracer Group has announced that it's selling Remnant and Hyper Light Breaker publisher Arc Games and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios in a deal that'll net the company $30 million.
Announced in a press release today, Embracer confirms that it's selling the companies – which it acquired back in December 2021 – to Project Golden Arc Inc., which it says is "owned and led by members of the Arc Games management team." The sale is also being financed by developer and publisher XD Inc.
In this move, publishing rights for the Remnant series will be transferred away from Arc Games and over to THQ Nordic, also an Embracer Group subsidiary (and the owner of the Remnant IP rights). In addition, the multiplayer dungeon crawler Fellowship (which currently lists Arc Games as its publisher) will become part of Coffee Stain, which itself "is expected to be spun off from Embracer and listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm." Arc will be listed as a co-publisher going forward.
Embracer CEO Phil Rogers states that the "transaction supports our key priorities by strengthening our focus on strategic assets and core IPs in Embracer while improving profitability and free cash flow," thanking the staff at Arc Games and Cryptic Studios for their work since 2021. "We are confident they will thrive and develop in the years ahead," he adds.
In recent years, Embracer Group has acquired an enormous number of video game companies, but at this point it's perhaps most notorious for the mass layoffs and studio closures that followed in a controversial restructuring program.
The company canceled 29 unannounced games between July and December 2023 alongside the closure of seven studios and layoffs affecting at least 1,400 people. Former CEO Lars Wingefors later said "I'm sure I deserve a lot of criticism," despite doubling down by saying: "I need to believe in the mission we set out and that is still valid, and we are now enabling that by doing this [new] structure."
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