Coffee Stain North

Coffee Stain North or Coffee Stain Studios is a Swedish video game developer based in Skövde. Founded in 2010 by nine University of Skövde students, the company is best known for Goat Simulator, 
==History==
Coffee Stain Studios was founded in 2010 in Skövde, Sweden, by a group of nine students at the University of Skövde: Anton Westbergh, Johannes Aspeby, Mikael Mård, Oscar Jilsén, Gustaf Tivander, Daniel Lundwall, Markus Rännare, Joakim Sjöö and Stefan Hanna. https://embracer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Investor-presentation-THQ-Nordic-AB-acquires-Coffee-Stain-group-FINAL.pdf Their first game, I Love Strawberries, was released at the end of that year for iOS by Atari. https://www.gamezone.com/originals/week-in-mobile-why-one-developer-brought-its-first-game-back-to-ios/ 
In 2010, Coffee Stain participated in "Make Something Unreal", a modding competition for Unreal Tournament 3 held by Epic Games and Intel, with their mod, Sanctum. https://www.vg247.com/2011/03/23/make-something-unreal-darlings-sign-commercial-ue3-deal/ The mod was received well, leading Coffee Stain to adopt the Unreal Development Kit to develop Sanctum into a standalone game. In March the following year, the company struck a five-year licensing agreement with Epic for their Unreal Engine 3 technology. https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/03/23/coffee-stain-studios-signs-five-year-exclusive-ue3-licensing-agreement 
Coffee Stain gained significant recognition with their April 2014 release of Goat Simulator. While the title received mixed critical reviews, as it was released in a purposely buggy state to take advantage of its ragdoll physics, it became highly successful through Let's Play videos and live streamers. By August 2014, Goat Simulator had outperformed all sales of the studio's previous games combined. https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/12/5994141/goat-simulator-million-copies-sold 
On February 23, 2017, Coffee Stain announced Coffee Stain Publishing, a subsidiary that would act as the publishing entity within the Coffee Stain group. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-02-23-coffee-stain-studios-becomes-a-publisher The following day, Coffee Stain acquired a minority stake in Danish developer Ghost Ship Games, becoming the publisher of their upcoming game, Deep Rock Galactic. In April 2017, Coffee Stain also invested in newly founded, Gothenburg-based studio Lavapotion, gaining a minority stake. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-06-coffee-stain-invests-in-new-gothenberg-studio-lavapotion In July 2017, Daniel Kaplan, the first employee of Swedish developer Mojang, left Mojang to join Coffee Stain Publishing. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-27-daniel-kaplan-leaves-mojang-for-coffee-stain 
Coffee Stain expanded Levelling the Playing Field in September 2020 to cover teams including racially and ethnically diverse people, women and non-binary people. Happy Broccoli Games became the third investment under this initiative. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-09-coffee-stain-expands-levelling-the-playing-field-program-to-include-underrepresented-races-and-ethnicities On November 18, 2020, Embracer announced they would purchase out the 40% stake in Coffee Stain North from their founders and transition it to a fully-owned subsidiary of Coffee Stain. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/embracer-group-acquires-coffee-stain-north-301175602.html 
In August 2021, Embracer Group acquired Ghost Ship Games and Easy Trigger, having them both be under the umbrella of Coffee Stain Holding. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/embracer-group-acquires-3d-realms-and-several-other-studios/1100-6494822/ In March 2022, Coffee Stain announced that they had partnered with Rare Earth Games, an Austrian developer owned by Coffee Stain's sister company Amplifier Game Invest, to publish a new co-op action IP. http://www.coffeestainstudios.com/news/coffee-stain-x-rare-earth-games/ 
In August 2022, as part of a large purchase of properties, Embracer was confirmed to have acquired a "secret developer" for $100 million which would transition under Coffee Stain. In December, it was revealed by several news outlets that the purchase was of the Roblox game developer Shortcake AB and their game "Welcome to Bloxburg" for $100 million, and renamed as Coffee Stain Gothenburg. https://www.sportskeeda.com/roblox-news/news-popular-roblox-game-welcome-bloxburg-reportedly-acquired-embracer-group-100-million-deal The game's creator, Coeptus, officially confirmed the new partnership in January 2023. https://twitter.com/RBX_Coeptus/status/1612524612838907957 
==References==
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:Swedish YouTubers
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