It's been a rough seven or eight months for Embracer Group, as the huge gaming company gutted some of its studios and cancelled plenty of projects during a taxing 2023 for its business. Last summer we heard about this change of course ahead of time - and a new financial report has laid bare the full extent of Embracer's restructuring program.
The company's end of 2023 financials have now been released, resulting in some quite shocking stats. Outlet VGC has been doing some maths here, and it seems that in June 2023 Embracer had 153 unannounced games in development; dropping to 124 titles by December. That means that a total of 29 yet-to-be-revealed projects have been cancelled in roughly six months.
What's maybe even more stark about these figures is that they only count unannounced titles. If Embracer is accurate with its wording, things like the cancellation of Free Radical's Timesplitters reboot are on top of these 29 other casualties - unless the team still counted that one as unannounced internally. The figure is a huge loss either way.
The company's financials also reveal that seven internal studios have been closed in that same timeframe — including Free Radical and Volition — and over 1,000 jobs have been lost as a result of all this chopping and changing. Here's hoping that 2024 ends up being a smoother ride for Embracer's teams and its workforce.
What do we think to all of this? Worried about Embracer's remaining projects? Go ahead and discuss down below.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 10
Industry consolidation at its finest....
I think its more to do they went on a big buying spree and expected a 2 billion deal with the Saudis to go through. it didn't now they are screwed
@trev666 I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned in the article.
Embracer group gambled with peoples jobs and livelihoods in the hope of selling to the Saudis and had the rug pulled from underneath them. It's disgusting.
@trev666 Don't forget WHO they bought as well. They paid very little because they were mostly failing studios or studios who couldn't get funded elsewhere. Embracer mostly shopped in the bargain bins, as such plenty were expected to fail imo.
Every update on this is a dagger through the heart. So many of my favorite IPs and great teams, shuttered.
It's clear Embracer is morally bankrupt for gambling with peoples' livelihoods and doing business with the Saudis. They thought they could make an easy flip and get the hell out, without understanding the industry (and basic business sense with how fast they went on a buying spree). Gaming is probably more top-heavy than a lot of outsiders suspect — they see the Fortnights and Zeldas and Grand Theft Autos of the world and think they can get a piece of that pie too. But for every major gaming franchise making billions, there are hundreds more not even hitting sales expectations. Just having a portfolio of a bunch of game IPs doesn't mean anything.
@Jey887 at first i was so happy with xbox buying obsidian and bethesda. i was against the abk deal towards the end. now im against any buyouts.
these greedy companies may destroy the industry but i have a feeling a.i. will rise from the ashes and develop a proper video game industry where games only need a couple years to cook.
Cancelled games should be licensed out to other developers, including the assets for those cancelled games, to recoup losses and continue to capitalize on the work that's already been done. For that matter large publishers — I'm looking at you Microsoft! — should actively license out their dormant IPs to third-party developers.
Saints Row probably scared them.
$100,000,000 bomb.
They probably cancelled a bunch of GARBAGE games that were definite flops.
It feels like Embracer has stopped developing games and is just slowly closing down dozens of studios.
Such a shame. Was looking forward to another Deus Ex. Wonder if and how long we'll ever see another entry? This news is just terrible. I can't stop crying.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...