In a press release, the executives of the Embracer Group announced that they have parted ways with Arc Games and Cryptic Studios (Star Trek Online, Neverwinter Online). MeinMMO summarizes all the details of the deal.
Update from December 3, 2025: Arc Games executives have issued a press release stating that, under new owner Project Golden Arc, Inc. and thanks to financing from XD Inc., they have successfully left the Embracer Group.
In the future, they want to focus on operating their current portfolio of games and supporting new AA or indie productions as a publisher. On gamespress.com, CEO Yoon Im explains:
“This milestone marks a major new chapter for Arc Games. We appreciate our time being part of Embracer Group and the accomplishments achieved since the company’s inception over 15 years ago. These experiences have shaped who we are today. As an independent publisher, we are now positioned to more fully pursue our vision—collaborating with exceptional developers worldwide and bringing standout games to market. 2026 is already shaping up to be one of the most ambitious and innovative years in our history, and we are excited for what lies ahead.
Even though Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and Champions Online are not mentioned at all, the announcement sounds as if nothing will change for players of the three MMORPGs as a result of the deal for the time being.
Original message from November 27, 2025: As part of the ongoing restructuring, the Embracer Group has parted ways with publisher Arc Games and developer Cryptic.
- Arc Games is the publisher of various live-service games such as Star Trek Online and Neverwinter Online, as well as the Remnant series, Torchlight, Hyper Light Breaker, and recently Fellowship – you can find a list of the games on Steam.
- The American company Cryptic Studios has released MMORPGs such as City of Heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter Online over the past 24 years.
According to the official press release on embracer.com, the two companies have been sold to the newly established company “Project Golden Arc, Inc.“, which is backed by several members from the management level of Arc Games.
After deducting transaction-related costs, Embracer is expected to receive around 30 million USD from the sale. The transaction is financed by the Chinese stock company XD. The rights to the Remnant franchise and Fellowship are expected to go to Embracer, while Arc Games remains a co-publisher.
Here you can see the early access trailer for Fellowship:
Deal of Many Question Marks
What does the deal mean for Cryptic Studios? For some time, things have not looked very good for Cryptic Studios. Their plan for a large MMORPG based on Magic: The Gathering was overly ambitious. The project didn’t make it through beta.
By the end of 2021, they ended up with Embracer and Gearbox. Aside from maintaining the ongoing MMORPGs, they were mainly expected to take on a supportive role and not start any new projects.
Last year, it briefly looked like Cryptic Studios could become the next victim of the restructuring at Embracer, after numerous studios and projects had already been closed. At least they were able to avoid that fate by selling to “Project Golden Arc, Inc.” How things will proceed is still unclear.
What does the deal mean for the MMORPGs? Here, too, we can only speculate due to the lack of official statements from the operators. The fact that the new owners come from the Arc Games universe could be a good sign. Why would they invest money in Cryptic Studios and the associated rights for Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, and others if they had no plans for them?
They might have entered into the deal because Embracer wanted to proceed with a long-anticipated closure, and this was the only way to save Arc Games, Cryptic, and the games.
However, it is also clear that they had to navigate through tough times with many layoffs, and that Star Trek Online and others are not getting any younger. How much is still in Cryptic today, and whether they will be able to embark on a new game project in the foreseeable future remains unclear.
We definitely keep our fingers crossed that this deal proves to be positive for all parties involved. You can find more information on the restructuring at Embracer, which has been ongoing for years and is attributed to a collapsed billion-dollar deal, in this article from April 2024: Company overextends, forced to lay off 1,400 employees, and who is to blame? The war and Covid
