Embracer Group Is Starting to Close Studios After Losing Out on Deal Worth Billions

Embracer Group has begun closing studios, including developer Campfire Cabal, which was formed in September of last year.

[Jin_Sakai]

Didn’t take long.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

Took long actually. They've been throwing money out the window for years. I was actually expecting them to scale down much earlier

[Abracadabra]

If Tencent go after Embracer's studios, that will be a problem...

[glennhkboy]

Tencent isn't allowed to make any big international investment anymore (by Chinese government).

[crazyCoconuts]

While I don't like people losing jobs, I do like seeing that the Embracer model isn't working. I could do without the market consolidation. Hope the staff get sucked into some companies actually trying to make good games

[Extermin8or3_]

Isn't working for them because they don't have a larger company backing them. It would work for someone like Microsoft to a point because ultimately money isn't really an issue for them.

[purple101]

Good good. Sony will buy up the talent.

And they will go to Sony, because I bet they'd like the prospect of working on a highly rated game instead of average scoring ones

[ModsDoBetter]

😂 honestly, the way you talk you'd think you were on Sony's payroll.

[purple101]

No but I should have brought Sony shares years ago. I knew they were onto a winner and turned out to be right.

Could have doubled my money

[Crows90]

Or maybe he's talking based on Sony's 1st party performance...idk..just an informed thought instead of some nonsense.

[ModsDoBetter]

"Or maybe he's talking based on Sony's 1st party performance...idk..just an informed thought instead of some nonsense."

lol. 😂
Nonsense 😂 you're unreal. He sounds like a Sony PR guy. You're honestly brainwashed.

[DarXyde]

How does one "buy up talent"?

Do you mean offer them jobs with their existing studios? I guess that's okay. Anything resembling a hostile takeover or IP shopping is extremely problematic.

[purple101]

Yeh I mean offer jobs to the best talent that are getting let go..

And they wouldn't, probably (I assume) turn down the opportunity to go to a Sony studio, even if their passion lies elsewhere or in a different genre, simply because it would look good on their portfolio.

[glennhkboy]

"Could have doubled my money" You really has not idea what the stock market values is in the real world, right? For the pass 5 years Sony stock price grow from roughly 49 to 90 today, which is around 1.8x. That is not "double my money". While MS grow around 3x, Apple grow around 4x at the same period. So Sony is not the market leader in terms of shares price.

[purple101]

Err I never said Sony shares rose more than those other companies, but thanks for pointing that out.

Pretty sure x1.8 is pretty much double too.

[Pyrofire95]

This reads like those videos of the guy who makes inventions that are very human.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

For as big as Embracer Group the company doesn’t seem to generate a lot of revenue. Embracer purchased so many smaller companies, while not releasing particularly high selling games. Seems the company is relying on investments to keep itself a float and together.

[ZwVw]

Bit off more than they could chew. Probably couldn't secure more Saudi money.

[DarXyde]

Ha!

Mbappe must've eaten up their budget.

[Chocoburger]

Independent or smaller studios need to stop selling themselves to these worthless mega corps that will shut them down at a moments notice.

[DOMination-]

I've raised many doubts throughout my comments history about Embracer. I think we will continue to see them trimming the fat.

Their CEO is a well known business flipper. It's been obvious to me that they are hoovering up as many IP and heritage studios as possible to later flip to the highest bidder in one convenient package. Their site suggests they own 900 IP and 150+ studios now but with the exception of Saint's Row (which wasn't even good), I can't name a single game they've released or plan to release. I know they have released games but my point is, none of them are memorable because imo they don't really care.

My prediction: In a few years, they'll sell their entire portfolio for 355-50 billion. MS won't be allowed to buy that much and it'll be too expensive for Nintendo or Sony so it'll end up in the hands of a company like Apple, Amazon or Google.

[Extermin8or3_]

I think you overestimate how much they are worth, considerably. They will cut their studios considerably and when the grim work is done someone will swoop in and buy them at a bargain price just before they collapse completely. They'll get those ip for a bargain.

[Hedstrom]

Why not sell of studios?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Well people are losing jobs and going to form new studios cycle continues?

[Exvalos]

Not good seeing as they own Tomb Raider and legacy of Kain. Hopefully either sony or Microsoft buys some of these studios

[Shadowsteal]

Embracer resold Tomb Raider to Amazon.

[Exvalos]

Oh they did? That's even worse.

[MrBaskerville]

They will keep these licenses, and even though some studios will be closed down, plenty will remain. Whether we will get new installments in Kain and Tomb Raider series remains to be seen.

Personally I'm rooting for the return of Thief and Deus Ex.

[TheColbertinator]

Thief and Deus ex deserve more entries

[LoveSpuds]

This is why no-one who cares about the health of the gaming industry should be cheering for consolidation, whether its Embracer, MS or anyone else. A publisher/platform holder picking up the occasional studio is one thing, but it will always be a risk when so much of the industry falls under the umbrella of one larger parent company.

[kaos89]

On the siftd podcast it was said they were just buying up studios to bolster their profile so they could then sell themselves, well now that deal fell through so now they are sol.

[mastershredder]

Of course they are. They invest like they gamble, show of flex resulting in a massive financial self-pwn. Not that they just had a 2 billion partnership fall through the cracks or anything, and not that the deal feel through because of mismanagement and loss of -500.000.000 a year. Sure helped their almost-partner cut though the BS and avoid that minefield.

Cowboys at the helm.
This is gonna get Gizmodo-level before it’s done. Maybe we’ll see another ferrari severed in two before it’s done.

[Knightofelemia]

That didn't take long.

[anast]

They should go the Konami route and make slot machines. All of the top tier creative talent is already spoken for.

[DivineHand125]

If Crystal Dynamics ever becomes at risk of closure. Hopefully they get aquired by Sony or Microsoft. I am not sure why Square Enix sold them off as it was one of their better studios.

[Extermin8or3_]

I mean aony purchasing them would be a solid idea for them, they now own the Tolkien estate and Sony own film studios/film distribution so not only is it a win for them in terms of the ips but also the cross media opportunities which they are big on atm and are fine outsourcing and would probably have no problem continuing to outsource the movies to WB. It also gives them an excellent negotiating position for 3rd party exclusive content on WB games. Plus I'd love to see a high quality LoTR game from a Sony first party. They'd need to overhaul most of the studios though. Infact I bet Sony and MS are waiting letting them cut jobs and studios themselves then one of them will move in for the purchase.

[ROCKY28]

Karma bites hard - Keywords and Embracer Group bought the competition over the years and now they have to many companies and both companies are bleeding out so they will both reduce the companies they bought and that will lead to major layoffs - greed and money over their employees - sad but true