Embracer Group will take over Asmodee from PAI Partners
The Swedish games giant Embracer Group wants to take over the board game company Asmodee for 2.75 billion euros. Asmodee itself and the Asmodee shareholders still need to give their approval. With the takeover, analogue board games and digital games could converge even faster.
If the takeover succeeds, a new business area would be created within the Embracer Group. Currently, the group owns eight independently operating business units: THQ Nordic (since 2011), Coffee Stain (since 2018), Koch Media/Deep Silver (since 2018), Amplifier Game Invest (since 2019), Saber Interactive (since 2020), DECA Games (since 2020), Gearbox Entertainment (since 2021) and Easybrain (since 2021). Asmodee would be the ninth business unit.
According to the press release, after the takeover Asmodee is to continue operating as an independent Operating Group as before. There are to be no changes in the company’s organisation. CEO Stéphane Carville and the management team are to remain in office.
Together, the two companies would own more than 100 game development studios, over 500 of their own intellectual properties (IPs) and brands, and employ more than 11,300 people in over fifty countries.
More digital board games
Asmodee could expand even faster in the field of digital games through the takeover. Asmodee has already been investing in this area for some time. Among other things, the group acquired the online board game platform Board Game Arena (BGA) this year. BGA offers more than 280 digital adaptations of games and, according to its own information, has over 5.8 million members. Asmodee Digital has also converted numerous board games into digital games, including Terraforming Mars, Gloomhaven, Ticket to Ride (Zug um Zug), Carcassonne, Splendor and Catan.
As early as 2017, Philippe Dao, then Chief Marketing Officer at Asmodee Digital, said in an interview with BoardGame Geek: “Our top priority is to build the largest community of digital board gamers, with a comprehensive game portfolio and the best possible gaming experience for the community.” In 2018, Gameswirtschaft wrote: “Currently, the range [of smartphone and PC games from Asmodee] consists of around 30 games – making the French one of the most relevant providers worldwide for board game adaptations in terms of ‘downloads’ and ‘revenue’, both in the app stores and on Steam. Half of the revenue comes from the USA and half from Europe.”
No wonder Asmodee gushes in the press release about the possible takeover: “Board games and video games complement each other to a high degree and exert long-term appeal on users worldwide.” Embracer sees it the same way. Lars Wingefors, CEO of the Embracer Group, says: “Asmodee would advance Embracer on the path to becoming a leading, independent, global gaming ecosystem.” Further positive effects from the takeover are promised in the areas of intellectual properties (IPs), distribution, technology, game development and transmedia projects.
Rapid growth
Asmodee was founded in 1995 and has grown strongly since then. Since 2018, Asmodee has been owned by the private equity firm PAI Partners. As early as September, the French newspaper L’agefi reported that PAI Partners wanted to sell Asmodee. The aim at the time was to achieve a price of 2 billion euros, 0.75 billion euros less than the 2.75 billion euros now achieved. PAI Partners had bought Asmodee from the private equity firm Eurazeo in 2018 for 1.2 billion euros. Eurazeo had in turn bought Asmodee in 2013 for “only” 143 million euros.
Since PAI’s investment in 2018, Asmodee’s revenue has risen from 500 million euros to 1.1 billion euros. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation on tangible assets and amortisation of intangible assets) has risen from 90 million euros to 250 million euros.
Embracer Group
The Embracer Group is the parent company of businesses that develop and publish PC, console and mobile games for the global games market. The group has an extensive catalogue of more than 250 of its own franchises such as Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Darksiders, Metro, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, TimeSplitters, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency, World War Z and Borderlands. The Embracer Group is headquartered in Karlstad, Sweden, and is present worldwide through its eight operating groups: THQ Nordic GmbH, Koch Media GmbH/Deep Silver, Coffee Stain AB, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive, DECA Games, Gearbox Entertainment and Easybrain. The group has 86 internal game development studios and employs more than 9,000 staff and contractors in over 40 countries.
Asmodee
The Asmodee Group is a leading international games publisher and distributor, selling, according to its own information, over 39 million games annually in fifty countries. Its portfolio includes titles such as Catan, Zug um Zug, Pandemic (Pandemie), Dead of Winter (Winter der Toten), Splendor, 7 Wonders, Just One, Dobble/Spot it! and Star Wars: X-Wing. Asmodee also develops products in collaboration with entertainment and technology companies. Asmodee employs over 2,300 people worldwide and is represented in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Asmodee’s headquarters are in Guyancourt, France.
Update on 20 January 2022: The Embracer Group has completed the takeover of Asmodee. The transaction worth 2.75 billion euros was signed on 17 January 2022. With the purchase, Asmodee will become the ninth operating group of Embracer. Stéphane Carville, former CEO of Asmodee, will remain at the helm together with his management team.
Update on 5 May 2024: The Embracer Group wants to split into three independent companies. This will also affect Asmodee. More on this in this article.