2023-11-21 12:24:48
Embracer Group confirms it has laid off more than 900 employees and canceled 15 games.
The publisher of Dead Island 2, PayDay 3 and Saints Row is doing badly. The company, which had multiplied its successes a few years ago, had embarked on a spiral of takeovers, acquiring dozens of development studios around the world, and spent a small fortune to acquire the rights to the Lord of the Rings. A strategy that allowed it to grow quickly, without however guaranteeing funds that would have allowed it to protect itself in the event of a crisis.
The failure of an agreement with a Saudi investment fund, the “Savvy Games Group”, now seems to call into question its strategy. With a debt of no less than 1.3 billion dollars, Embracer had to make efforts to clean up its activities.
In total, no less than fifteen games have been canceled since March (most of them were not yet announced) and 900 employees have been laid off. Iconic studios have closed their doors, like Volition, which notably worked on Saints Row, and, according to rumor, the Free Radical Design studio, author of Time Splitters. Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider) was also forced to lay off 10% of its workforce.
Embracer also announced the merger of its various publishing brands under the Plaion brand.
Rumor has it that Embracer could go even further with restructuring. The group would consider reselling Gearbox Studio, the studio behind Borderlands but also Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
Quite paradoxically, the group recorded revenue growth of 13% during the second quarter of the year. Sales of its latest games are also good, with solid performances for Dead Island 2, PayDay 2 and Remnant 2. Unsurprisingly, it is the least productive studios, or whose games have sold the least well, which are the most impacted. Volition had given birth to a reboot of Saints Row which was shot down by critics…
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