The group went too fast, too hard.
Embracer Group will restructure its business with layoffs, game cancellations, and studio sales and closures, it’s recently announced.
The news comes after a deal that would have provided $2 billion USD in revenue over the six years fell apart.
Embracer will complete its restructure in March of next year; it’s unclear as yet as to how many workers will be impacted.
“The actions will include, but not be limited to, closing or divestments of some studios and the termination or pausing of some ongoing game development projects,” CEO Lars Wingefors wrote in an open letter. “It will also include decreased spending on non-development costs such as overhead and other operating expenses. We will reduce third party publishing and put greater focus on internal [intellectual property] and increase external funding of large-budget games.”
Wingefors said that most — in his words, “almost entirely” — of its game cancellatoins were for projects that hadn’t been publicly announced.
“All announced significant releases will still be released as planned,” the CEO continued.
Embracer Group has spent up big in the last few years, acquiring Gearbox, several Square Enix studios including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, and securing the rights to The Lord of the Rings. Embracer also started buying up unique pieces of gaming history for curation; it’s unclear what will happen to that privately-owned collection.
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