After a $1.3 billion acquisition in 2021, Embracer has already let Borderlands creators run away… without creating anything or making its investment profitable
Game news After a $1.3 billion acquisition in 2021, Embracer has already let Borderlands creators run away… without creating anything or making its investment profitable
Hugging group. Just reading that name can make you shiver right now. After a phase of expansion that allowed us to classify the company as an ogre, the house of cards collapsed. Now, in the final stage of restructuring, Embracer can absorb its losses by letting one of its big names escape.
Incubator: The ghoul is now on dry bread and water
Born under the name Game Outlet Europe which launched Nordic Games in 2007, Embracer Group was for several years the European ogre of video games. Through acquisitions and mergers, the company has become a juggernautamong others the owners of THQ Nordic, Koch Media (now Paion), Deep Silver, Saber Interactive, Gearbox, and Piranha Byte, Eidos Montreal or Crystal Dynamics. According to ActuGaming's calculations, Embracer Group employed more than 16,600 people in March 2023. Historical fundraising, huge investments, everything has been done for Embracer to become a powerful giant. However, society may have put the cart before the horse.
It has been discussed for a long time and is on the verge of success, A $2 billion investment fell through. We later learned that this money was to be pumped By Savvy Gaming Group, which is owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The announcement had a bombshell effect, and the value of Embracer shares fell by 40%. Add to this the end of the Covid boom, and we find ourselves facing a society that can no longer afford its expenses. As of June 2023, A massive restructuring has been announcedand everyone logically began to tremble within the group.
And at the end of the year, these are them 1,205 developers lost their jobs For global layoffs affecting 8% of the workforce or 1,383 people. Between canceling projects and cutting costs, Embracer is looking for other ways to speed things up One way seems to be simply to abandon some of the structures For hard currency. A few days ago, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier previously revealed this Saber Interactive, a group of 32 studios with approximately 3,800 employees, will soon regain its independence for $500 million. dollars, paid by a group of private investors.
Gearbox will be on the verge of selling and relieving Embracer of more than 1,540 salaries
Another company, acquired for $1.3 billion in 2021, is also supposed to set sail. It's Gearbox, and it should be formalized before the end of the fiscal year, on March 31st. According to InsiderGaming, Plumper, Kotaku, Gearbox CEO and co-founder Randy Pitchford held a staff meeting to make the announcement to employees That a decision had been made about the future of the studioMore information will be shared in March. According to Kotaku's sources, Pitchford explained to Gearbox employees that three scenarios have been considered since September 2023: staying with Embracer, selling it or financing a purchase and thus becoming independent again. The information collected indicates that a sale has been decided, An agreement will be signed soon. When Kotaku asked about this, Randy Pitchford played the “nothing to announce” card:
I'm glad people are interested enough in what we do that you want to write an article about us for your readers. I am honored and humbled that our company is the subject of rumor, speculation and discussion. As always, we'll be happy to let you know about any projects we have to announce or any news we have to share as part of our mission to entertain the world.
As a reminder, Gearbox has worked on 007: Nightfire, Counter-Strike, Halo, Brother in Arms, Duke Nukem Forever, and Homeworld, but is best known for the Borderlands franchise which also includes Tiny Tina's Wonderlands.
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