Embracer Group Rebrands to Fellowship Entertainment

Alessio Palumbo
Embracer Group The Lord of the Rings

[UPDATE - May 20, 2026] Almost a year later, Embracer is trying a new strategy: spinning off Fellowship Entertainment into its own company that will handle all the biggest IPs. On the same day, we also learned that Warhorse is indeed working on an open world Middle-earth RPG and on a new Kingdom Come game.

[ORIGINAL STORY] Today, Embracer Group announced a rebranding to Fellowship Entertainment. This is a clear nod to The Lord of the Rings IP, whose rights Embracer purchased around two years ago for a relatively low sum ($395 million). Following the acquisition, COO Matthew Karch claimed that the group's priority should be turning The Lord of the Rings into one of gaming's biggest franchises. Karch is no longer with Embracer (which split with Saber Interactive a while ago), but the sentiment appears to have remained the same, given the brand name's choice.

Related Story Crystal Dynamics (and Maybe Warhorse) Are Reportedly Working on Lord of the Rings Games

Of course, Tolkien's beloved fantasy universe is just one of many big franchises owned by Fellowship Entertainment, such as Kingdom Come Deliverance, Metro, Dead Island, Killing Floor, Darksiders, Remnant, and Tomb Raider. The new company will house over 6K employees spread across 50 companies or so.

The other big news announced today is that Coffee Stain Group (Goat Simulator, Satisfactory, Deep Rock Galactic) is being spun off into a separately listed company. Lars Wingefors, co-founder and Group CEO of Embracer, said in a statement:

Coffee Stain Group has incredible talent, IPs and communities. To date, it has been a true recipe for success. I am confident in Anton's strategy and leadership and see a clear long-term opportunity in attracting and enabling partnerships with like-minded independent game developers and talents.

Anton Westbergh, co-founder and Group CEO of Coffee Stain, added:

We’re really proud of everything we’ve built as part of Embracer, and grateful for the support and trust we’ve received over the years. Now, as we take the step to become a separately listed company, it feels both exciting and, honestly, a little bit scary—but in a good way.

The games industry is more competitive than ever, but also more rewarding if you do things right, and we believe this move gives us the clarity and control to navigate the landscape better on our own terms. We can now focus even more on what we do best—supporting our developers, staying close to our communities, and building an even brighter future for Coffee Stain.

The Embracer name will live on, albeit stained after countless layoffs and closures, only as the privately held holding company of Fellowship Entertainment, Coffee Stain Group, and Asmodee Group (which had been spun off earlier this year). Lars Wingefors, as the main shareholder, will remain in control.

The company also provided an overview of its announced release schedule. In fiscal year 2025/2026, the following titles will be launched:

Embracer said a triple-A game previously scheduled for 2025/2026 is likely to be moved to 2026/2027. The company expects similar sales to Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for this title. They may be referring to the next Metro game, though there's no way to know for sure.

Alessio Palumbo Photo

About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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