A statement by Embracer Group CEO Phil Rogers noted that the major reason for this deal was so that the company could improve its cash flow while still hanging on to its main priorities of maintaining core IPs.

“This transaction supports our key priorities by strengthening our focus on strategic assets and core IPs in Embracer while improving profitability and free cash flow,” said Rogers. “The deal also allows online multiplayer game Fellowship, developed by a talented external team in Stockholm, to find a great home within Coffee Stain Group. I would like to thank the teams at Arc and Cryptic for their hard work over the past four years and wish them all the best as we are confident they will thrive and develop in the years ahead.”

The new owner of Arc Games – Project Golden Arc – is comprised of the company’s own management team. Among the games it has published are Remnant: From The Ashes and Remnant 2, Torchlight, Hyper Light Breaker, and most recently, Fellowship. Cryptic Studios has also worked with Arc Games in the past since it has worked on the Arc Games-published MMORPGs Star Trek Online and Neverwinter.

While the long-term fates of all of these games are currently unknown, one of the few titles to which Embracer Group is holding on to the rights for – Fellowship – will continue its development by studio Chief Rebel. The title, released as an Early Access game on Steam back in October, will see continued development under the stewardship of the studio, with its core development team numbering in at around 35 employees.

Embracer Group had announced that it would be spinning off Coffee Stain Group back in May. As a result of this spin-off, Embracer Group will see its name changed to Fellowship Entertainment. The spun off Coffee Stain Group will take with it 250 employees, along with a host of studios, including Tuxedo Labs, Ghost Ship, and Amplifier Game Investment. The spun-off company will also take quite a few IPs with it, including Deep Rock Galactic, Goat Simulator, and Satisfactory, among others.

Once Embracer Group officially turns into Fellowship Entertainment, the company plans on transforming its business into one that can handle game development and publishing, as well as the development of new IPs that can then be spun off into transmedia properties like merchandise, comics and film. The company will retain ownership of companies like 4A Games, Aspyr Media, Crystal Dynamics, Dambuster Studios, and Deca Games, among many others. In the meantime, also check out the company having announced earlier this year that co-founder Lars Wingefors was stepping down as CEO.

Neverwinter developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Perfect World Entertainment has also been acquired through the Gearbox Entertainment Company. Perfect World will act as a subsidiary for Gearbox going forward with a new title planned for launch in 2022 and five more releases coming by 2024. Animation studio DIGIC, which is known for its cinematics and trailers, and developer Shiver Entertainment have also been acquired via Saber Interactive.

The latter was founded by veterans John Schappert and Jason Andersen with a focus on development and porting titles of various genres and across different platforms. With the new year upon us, what other companies will the Embracer Group add to its roster? Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

"The story is more linear, and gives a better sense of continuity. It also gives us an opportunity to more clearly tutorialize all the aspects of the game, so by the time you get to level 20, you know how to play your class and the rest of the game before you start playing through epic-level content."

What was behind the decision to rework the game to bring it more in line with the D&D 5th Edition ruleset? What are the biggest ways this change affects the game?

The decision came more out of desire to streamline the leveling experience, especially with all the newest content designed for players who have already reached max level. When we started talking about shrinking the leveling time considerably, it made sense to give it parity with D&D tabletop from where Neverwinter gets its roots.

Instead of 40-50 hours to get to the max level — which before was level 80 — it now only takes you 10-12 hours to get to the max level, which is now level 20. The story is more linear, and gives a better sense of continuity. It also gives us an opportunity to more clearly tutorialize all the aspects of the game, so by the time you get to level 20, you know how to play your class and the rest of the game before you start playing through epic-level content.

Neverwinter’s reworked its progression to considerably de-emphasize grinding, and reaching the level cap now requires much less time than it used to. What led to this change? How does it benefit the overall experience?

Neverwinter has been running a long time — having just celebrated its 8^th year anniversary in June — and has accumulated a lot of content. We didn’t want people intimidated by a wall of content just to get to the latest update, especially if when you have veteran players who want to play with friends who are new to the game. It also allows veteran players to more quickly level-up alternate characters of classes they wanted to try.

"Neverwinter has been running a long time — having just celebrated its 8^th year anniversary in June — and has accumulated a lot of content. We didn’t want people intimidated by a wall of content just to get to the latest update, especially if when you have veteran players who want to play with friends who are new to the game."

The Adventurer’s Guild is a pretty major new addition, especially from the perspective of newcomers. Has that become an important consideration for the development team, to make Neverwinter more accessible to new players? How have you reconciled that with making sure that those who’ve invested hundreds of hours in the game don’t get a more compromised experience?

The Adventurer’s Guild was a big part of the leveling streamlining design, giving new players a single focal point for the 1-20 level progression. Even veteran players who have played through during Closed Alpha and Preview have expressed that the Adventurer’s Guild alongside the larger leveling has a much tighter flow that they enjoy.

Can you talk about the changes you’ve made to the progression system? The milestone system and gear-based progression upon hitting the level cap are interesting changes, but what led to the decision to implement these?

The milestone system is another carry-over from D&D tabletop. While you can still play used experience point progression in tabletop, a lot of the official modules have moved to milestone leveling where once you complete a major step in the story progression, you gain a level. By having milestone progression in Nevewinter for levels 1-20, you have a more focused experience that is more about story and learning the game. Then when you get into epic-level content, the focus is more on campaign-play and how to gear up your character while going through all the different post-level 20 Adventure Zones.

The bard class is Neverwinter’s first new class in a while, and has been in the works for some time, and seeing as it comes to the game at a time where it has reinvented so much of itself, it’s shouldered plenty of responsibility to highlight Neverwinter’s biggest strengths in its current form. Can you talk about how it does that, and what the process was like of deciding which new class to put in the game and how it should be balanced to fit the experience?

There was a lot of discussion about possible classes, and it included the Druid and Monk as contenders. Between what we discussed internally, what the Neverwinter community expressed, and what Wizards of the Coast gathered from public surveys, Bard seemed to be a clear choice for us. It fit the bill as being both an interesting and creative new class, and adding in the ability for players to actually do play their own music for other players was a fun aspect that was a big clincher for us.

Balancing is a big factor when you introduce any new class. Once the basic class was built, there is a lot of iteration on how it performs in a team in Dungeons and Trials since it’s filling a specific role (DPS or Healing). Then there’s a lot of how it feels solo in leveling (powers progression) and epic-level item progression. Once we got all that worked out, we knew the Bard class was in a good state and that it would be a great fit for Neverwinter.

"There was a lot of discussion about possible classes, and it included the Druid and Monk as contenders. Between what we discussed internally, what the Neverwinter community expressed, and what Wizards of the Coast gathered from public surveys, Bard seemed to be a clear choice for us."

Looking forward, what are your plans for Neverwinter in the coming weeks and months? Can players expect any other major content updates or additions anytime soon?

We’re already well into post Jewel of the North development. We definitely want to get back to getting some more content out there for all players, including veteran players, soon.

Do you have any plans to bring Neverwinter to the Switch at some point in the future?

We have no current plans, but anything is possible!

“Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we got to bring the expansive Magic: The Gathering Multiverse to a wide audience and explore new angles within the established ARPG genre. We learned several valuable lessons along the way, and we will use them to improve Cryptic’s future development efforts.” In the meantime, the developer will be releasing an update to make items in the ZEN Store purchasable with the in-game currency rather than premium currency.

All players who spent money on the title will receive full refunds for their purchases. Purchases made through Arc Games will receive $10 credit to spend on other titles within the launcher. Refunds are expected to take four weeks through all storefronts but the Epic Games Store is expected to process the same by July 14th.

Ricasso also notes that there are “no plans” to bring back Magic: Legends in the future. It’s a shame, but ultimately expected, especially considering fan feedback. For more reactions on the game’s closure, check out this Reddit post.

Magic: Legends, Cryptic Studios’ action RPG spin to Magic: The Gathering, has entered open beta on PC. It’s available through Arc Games and the Epic Games Store. Downloading from the Epic Games Store will provide two drop boosts, a summon skin and a free costume for the Moorland Ranger till April 6th. Arc Games players can claim the Gavony Vigilante costume, Ogre Mortar Bruiser skin, two mission boosts and two drop boosts for free.

Magic: Legends is unique in that it allows for creating a deck of cards that serve as one’s attacks. These cards are drawn at random during battle and can be upgraded. The open beta offers five starter classes – Geomancer, Mind Mage, Beastcaller, Sanctifier and Necromancer – each with their own unique abilities and play-styles.

Players will traverse across five regions in four planes and also build up their Spark. This serves as a “personal fragment” to the Meditation Realm which provides “countless secrets.” Magic: Legends is out later this year for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Stay tuned for more details and updates for the open beta in the coming months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlwy6Wh3g0

"Narratively, it’s been a thrill to expand on the foundations of fantastic Discovery characters such as Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), Cadet Sylvia Tilly / Captain Killy (Mary Wiseman) and Commander Ellen Landry (Rekha Sharma). We’re also excited to have Anthony Rapp join the cast for the launch of Awakening on September 10."

What’s the experience been like to integrate new stories from Star Trek Discovery in your game?

It’s been nothing short of amazing. Discovery marked the first time that Star Trek Online operated in lockstep with a live Trek show. We embraced this unique opportunity and the result was the Age of Discovery expansion. By developing AoD over many months, it afforded us the chance to deeply explore characters and locations introduced in the show while developing the latest starships, weapons, armor and gadgets for our players.

Narratively, it’s been a thrill to expand on the foundations of fantastic Discovery characters such as Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), Cadet Sylvia Tilly / Captain Killy (Mary Wiseman) and Commander Ellen Landry (Rekha Sharma). We’re also excited to have Anthony Rapp join the cast for the launch of Awakening on September 10.

Can fans expect more Discovery-related content in the near future?

With Awakening, we are kicking off an entirely new story arc advancing the Discovery-era 2256 narrative into Star Trek Online’s 2410 timeline. This gives us incredible flexibility to blend Discovery (and other) themes into our upcoming releases. Players will first experience this with a hologram of Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (voiced by Anthony Rapp) during Awakening this September. As we know there is a lot of exciting new Trek coming from CBS with more Short Treks, Picard, Lower Decks and Section 31. After the response we received from the Age of Discovery expansion, we’ll want to remain agile for these emerging opportunities as well.

"We don’t sell power. It’s not pay to win. The items we sell are largely vanity-, utility- and convenience- based."

Rise of Discovery removes level restrictions on Tier 6 starships, which is something fans have been very happy about. What led to this decision?

Let me start by saying that the development team tirelessly strives to make the game more exciting and accessible. Over Star Trek Online’s amazing 9+ year run (Our 10^th Anniversary is in January!), hundreds of ships have been developed. We realized that for most leveling players, trying to determine which of these ships to command and under what conditions was possibly more of a distraction than a benefit to their Trek experience. As importantly, for our fiercely loyal player base, we wanted to make the alt (additional characters) leveling experience more empowering. The way our scaling T6 ships unlock over the leveling progression gives players increasing ship stats along with additional Weapons and Console slots. Ultimately, it’s about fantasy fulfillment and we’ve received wonderful feedback on this feature.

As a free-to-play title, how do you find the balance between monetization and balanced progression?

It’s quite straightforward with Star Trek Online. You can play every piece of content in our game without spending a dime. Hundreds of hours of episodes, Task Force Operations, Patrols, Events, etc., are 100% free. Our business model, which has made it possible to keep the game extremely healthy, is based on selling optional premium goods. We don’t sell power. It’s not pay to win. The items we sell are largely vanity-, utility- and convenience- based.

"To be able to explore the roots behind the relationship between Lorca and Landry, and the fall of the U.S.S. Buran was an amazing experience."

Now being nearly a decade old, what’s been the biggest challenge for you in terms of keeping STO active?

It’s all about servicing our amazing players. They adore Star Trek and we’re privileged to have the opportunity to continually evolve the game for them. With new entries like the Age of Discovery expansion, we created an entirely new starting experience for those players who may have found STO through Star Trek: Discovery. For our existing players, we introduced numerous special events, which debuted all new Task Force Operations. Some of these events had a new meta reward attached to earn a choice of T6 ship. We also made all T6 ships scale to player level, which was a very nice quality of life feature for both leveling players and those playing with alts. We also reworked the mission journal so end game player could immediately access their favorite episodes.

How do you strike the balance between being authentic and true to the larger Star Trek universe while also injecting your own ideas and stories into the game?

Our partners at CBS make this very easy for us. Approaching our 10^th Anniversary, we’ve established a respect and trust. I think some great examples of this include our last three Discovery updates and upcoming Awakening release – in each case we expanded, often in quite deep ways, on narrative introduced in Discovery. Look no further than Rise of Discovery, to be able to explore the roots behind the relationship between Lorca and Landry, and the fall of the U.S.S. Buran was an amazing experience.

After having existed solely on the PC for several years, Perfect World Entertainment the publisher for Star Trek: Online announced that the game is going to be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One this fall. Because the game has been in existence in one form or another for years now, when it hits consoles it will be bringing over 130 featured episodes and 11 seasons worth of content.

Star Trek: Online is a game set up to make you feel as if you are playing an MMORPG inside the universe the Enterprise flies through. Familiar races and classes, as well as ships and characters, are all included in this version.

Much like something like Diablo III, the PC port will be bringing all the add-ons that were already offered over the years for the PC version.  Players will be able to play through a ton of content and hit the level 60 cap entirely free. Star Trek: Online is coming to the Xbox One and PS4 later this fall but an official release date hasn’t yet been announced. While it’s a little old you can check out our review of the early version of the PC version.

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that Cryptic Studios’ Neverwinter, originally released on PC, has more than 1.6 million players on the Xbox One. The free to play MMO launched at March end for Microsoft’s console and has seen some fairly good numbers since then.

Other stats provided by the publisher state that 2.3 million characters have been created since launch (with 92,000 hitting the maximum level cap of 60); 86 million minutes have been played; 10 million parties have been formed; more than 1 billion enemies slain; and over 1000 dragons have been ended courtesy of 92 players.

Xbox division boss Phil Spencer chimed in regarding Neverwinter’s success, stating that, “We’re thrilled gamers have embraced this unique free-to-play MMORPG on Xbox One.”

Perfect World also revealed that it would be bringing five new free expansions to Neverwinter later this year, based on the Tyranny of Dragons and Elemental Evil stories that exist within Dungeons and Dragons (Neverwinter itself is set in the Forgotten Realms of the D&D universe). Expect more information in the coming months.

What are your thoughts on the success of Neverwinter on the Xbox One? Let us know in the comments.

Cryptic Studios’ free to play MMORPG Neverwinter is now available to pre-download on the Xbox One. This means you can download the game now and play it as soon as it goes live next week.

It should be noted that despite the game’s free to play nature, one will still require Xbox Live Gold to play it.

Neverwinter takes place in the famous Forgotten Realms location of Dungeons and Dragons with an emphasis on action RPG mechanics. It will include the Scourge Warlock and Tyranny of Dragons expansion packs to complement the base game and also allow one to invite their friends into games.

Neverwinter will be releasing on March 31st for Xbox One. Recently, Cryptic Studios was in the news for a large number of lay-offs, with some employees tweeting that they were a “slaughter”. How will that affect the future of Neverwinter? We’ll have to wait and find out.

It’s never a good thing when a developer is forced to lay off employees especially when it’s a long-time studio that’s been carving its own niche in the industry. Sadly, this appears to have been the case with Cryptic Studios, developer of MMORPGs Neverwinter and Star Trek Online.

The lay-offs were issued by publisher Perfect World Entertainment and though a public statement has not been issued, many of the staff are confirming the same in various social media outlets. The number of employees let go also seems to be quite severe as Massively reported one (recently deleted) tweet describing them as a “slaughter”.

The timing is quite odd since Cryptic Studios was readying to release Neverwinter on the Xbox One on March 31st. Will the recent lay-offs affect the future of the franchise? That remains to be seen but in the meantime, stay tuned for more information and an official statement from Perfect World Entertainment.