Tag Archives: embracer group

Dark Horse’s parent company Embracer takes a hit

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Embracer Group logo

What happens when you admit a $2 billion deal collapsed overnight before an earnings presentation? Your stock is going to take a hit. That’s exactly what happened to Embracer, the massive conglomerate that owns numerous video game studios, board game publishers, and Dark Horse Comics… and the rights to The Lord of the Rings.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors stated in a May 24th sessions Q&A a partnership worth $2 billion fell throught, though the company it was with was never named. The list of candidates who could do that sort of deal is rather small though. The agreement was called “tranformative” in a press release and would have “set a new benchmark for the gaming industry.”

Overall, earnings for the fiscal year were below expectations due to game delays, weak consumer demand, and bad reception to releases. All of the above drove the stock down 45%.

But, it wasn’t all bad.

Tabletop games were up 6% for the fiscal year and the division that includes Dark Horse was up 8% for the year. Embracer purchased Dark Horse at the end of 2021. Further positive outlook for both were mentioned in the presentation.

(via Kotaku)

Embracer Buys Dark Horse After Mega Deal to Buy Asmodee

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Dark Horse Comics

Embracer Group is on a buying spree to end the year. Just lack week, the video game behemoth announced the intended acquisition of Asmodee, the board game publisher, for €2.75 billion (about $3.1 billion in US dollars). Now, the conglomerate is purchasing Dark Horse Media, making it the tenth operative group of the Embracer group. Dark Horse founder and CEO Mike Richardson will continue to lead the company with existing management.

According to the announcement, Dark Horse “owns or controls” more than 300 intellectual properties. It strengthens Embracer Group’s content development in comic publishing and film and tv production. Asmodee in the recent year has expanded its non-game publishing (books, art books) and also recently announced moves to bring its properties to film and television.

In the acquisition, Embracer Group gains Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse Entertainment (film and television), and Things from Another World (retail with three locations and e-commerce). In the Asmodee acquisition, it was revealed that Asmodee owned two stores including the popular Miniature Market which it bought in 2021. The purchase of Asmodee and Dark Horse quickly expands Embracer’s retail operations with both physical and e-commerce options as well as its reach into television and film. The firm is clearly looking at how to expand its existing properties beyond their initial silos of release.

In the announcement, Embracer specifically mentioned the “untapped potential in creating games based on Dark Horse IP”. Embracer Group is the parent company of 86 video game development studios representing over 250 IPs in over 40 countries. Studios include THQ Nordic, Gearbox Entertainment, and others with properties such as Saints Row, Dead Island, Darksiders, Timesplitters, World War Z, and Borderlands.

Darksiders and Dead Island have seen comics based on them released by Dark Horse while Borderlands has had comic tie-ins published by IDW Publishing.

Between these two purchases, Embracer quickly becomes an IP powerhouse with the abilitiy to release concepts across video games, tabletop games, comics, movies, and television.

The amount of the purchase has not been revealed “due to commercial reasons” but Embracer will purchase 80 percent of the shares of Dark Horse from a seller based in Hong Kong and the remaining 20 percent of the shares from CEO Mike Richardson and COO Neil Hankerson. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2022.

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