page_title: Embracer Group
section_title: International expansion (2011–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Embracer Group / History / International expansion (2011–present)
context_page_description: Embracer Group AB is a Swedish video game holding company based in Karlstad. The company was established under the name Nordic Games in December 2008, forming the video game publishing subsidiary of game retailer Game Outlet Europe. Co-founders include chief executive officer and Game Outlet Europe founder Lars Wingefors, Pelle Lundborg, and Nik Blower. In 2011, Nordic Games established a second office, Nordic Games GmbH, in Vienna, Austria, and soon shifted its publishing operations to the new office.
  In August 2016, Nordic Games, together with its Viennese office, was renamed THQ Nordic, using the "THQ" trademark that it had acquired in 2014, and in November 2016, the company became a public company listed on Nasdaq First North. Throughout 2018, THQ Nordic acquired Koch Media Holding and Coffee Stain Holding, both of which operate independently under THQ Nordic, complementary to THQ Nordic GmbH. To avoid confusion with THQ Nordic GmbH and to clarify its position as a holding company, THQ Nordic AB was renamed Embracer Group in September 2019, while THQ Nordic GmbH retained its name.
context_section_description: In June 2011, Nordic Games Holding acquired the assets of insolvent publisher JoWooD Entertainment and its subsidiaries. The acquired assets were transferred to Nordic Games GmbH, a subsidiary office of Nordic Games that had been established in Vienna, Austria, earlier that year. Several former JoWooD employees were hired by Nordic Games GmbH to work on backlog sales of former JoWooD properties, and the publishing team from Nordic Games was soon integrated into Nordic Games GmbH to facilitate operations. In April 2013, Nordic Games Licensing, on behalf of Nordic Games Holding (now renamed Nordic Games Group), acquired many assets of bankrupt publisher THQ, all of which were again moved to Nordic Games GmbH.
  In June 2014, Nordic Games acquired the "THQ" trademark, intending to use the name as a publishing label for its THQ properties. In August 2016, Nordic Games announced that both itself and its Viennese subsidiary had been renamed as THQ Nordic (as THQ Nordic AB and THQ Nordic GmbH, respectively). According to Wingefors and THQ Nordic GmbH's Reinhard Pollice, the name change was undergone to capitalise on the good reputation of THQ's past, although they avoided naming the companies just "THQ" to avoid connections to THQ's more recent, troubled history being made. On 22 November 2016, THQ Nordic undertook its initial public offering and became a public company listed on the Nasdaq First North stock exchange, being valuated at 1.9 billion kr, while Wingefors retained a 50% ownership in the company.
  In February 2018, THQ Nordic acquired Koch Media Holding, the parent company of Austrian media company Koch Media, which in turn owned and operated the Deep Silver video game label, for €121 million. Koch Media was set to operate independently under THQ Nordic, separate from THQ Nordic GmbH. To better reflect its holding function and to avoid confusion between THQ Nordic and its Viennese office, THQ Nordic stated that it planned to rename itself. In June 2018, the company issued 7.7 million new Class B shares to raise $168 million, which would be used for future acquisitions. In November 2018, THQ Nordic acquired Coffee Stain Holding, the Swedish holding company that houses developer Coffee Stain Studios and affiliated companies, for 317 million kr in cash consideration. Coffee Stain became THQ Nordic's "third leg", operating independently like Koch Media. Through the two acquisitions and continued sales from THQ Nordic GmbH, THQ Nordic's net sales rose by 713%, to US$447.6 million, in the 2018 fiscal year. In December 2018, gaming business website GamesIndustry.biz named Wingefors as one of their People of the Year 2018. In February 2019, THQ Nordic issued 11 million new Class B shares, raising 2.09 billion kr ($225 million).
  At the end of its first fiscal quarter of 2019, THQ Nordic acquired Game Outlet Europe from Nordic Games Group for 10 million kr. In August 2019, the company acquired investment company Goodbye Kansas Game Invest (GKGI) for 42.4 million kr. GKGI held minority investments in five startup developers—Palindrome Interactive, Fall Damage, Neon Giant, Kavalri Games and Framebunker—as well as royalty rights to the THQ Nordic GmbH-published Biomutant. GKGI's investments in Bearded Dragons, Goodbye Kansas VR and IGDB were retained by its previous parent company, Goodbye Kansas. GKGI had been founded in 2016 and by the time of the acquisition had four full-time employees. To avoid further confusion with THQ Nordic GmbH and clarify its position as a holding company, THQ Nordic assumed the name "Embracer Group" at its annual general meeting on 17 September 2019, while the branch in Vienna retained its name. In December 2019, the company, through GKGI, acquired Swedish developer Tarsier Studios for 99 million kr. The deal included the studio's 65 employees and intellectual property, excluding Little Nightmares and The Stretchers, which remained with their respective owners.
  GKGI was rebranded Amplifier Game Invest in January 2020 to better reflect its new ownership under Embracer Group. That same month, Amplifier ope
caption: Former THQ Nordic AB logo (2016–2019)