Embracer Group Confirms More Studio Closures Are Coming

The struggles continue for embattled mega-publisher Embracer Group, which has today confirmed that more studios will either suffer closures or be sold off over the coming months. CEO Lars Wingefors made the comments at a Q&A during the company’s annual general meeting yesterday (via Game Developer), where he also confirmed that the recent studio downsizes will continue.

“Ultimately we are making decisions to either restructure or downsize some teams, and there will be a few cases of closures,” he said. “It’s difficult and it takes time, but we announced this in June and now we’re at the end of September and we’re confident to deliver on the targets we set out for the end of the fiscal year.”

The highest profile victim of the aggressive cost-cutting so far is, of course, Volition, developer of the Saints Row franchise, which closed at the end of August. Meanwhile, just a few days ago, Tomb Raider and Perfect Dark developer Crystal Dynamics shed 10 staff members. Less well-known development teams have also been caught up in the drama, with Campfire Cabal shuttered while vaunted remaster studio Beamdog has also suffered layoffs.

Those are the most extreme outcomes, and Wingefors said that the goal is, as far as possible, to offer affected staff “new opportunities […] even if it’s outside Embracer Group through sometimes a divestment.” Wingefors seemed bullish about that as a possibility, given the current appetite by major players including Microsoft, Sony, and Tencent to snap up studios to bolster their own portfolios. The possibility of selling off assets has already been mooted for Borderlands developer Gearbox.

All of these closures and problems comes about following the sudden, disastrous collapse of a massive deal that would have helped secure the future of Embracer Group. The deal, worth $2 billion, fell through in May 2023 and was reportedly set to be made with Saudi-owned Savvy Games Group. Prior to that, the company had been growing aggressively, acquiring Square Enix’s Western studios, Middle-Earth Enterprises, and many more.