The latest studio to be affected by Embracer's «comprehensive restructuring programme» is Insurgency and Day of Infamy developer New World Interactive.
16.11.2023 - 14:37 / gamesradar.com / Lars Wingefors
Payday 3 has underperformed for Starbreeze parent company Embracer.
Launched earlier this year in September, Payday 3 was mired with technical issues and bugs at launch. This launch experience, according to Embracer Group, has led to a disappointing release for Payday 3 in general, as CEO Lars Wingefors recently revealed in an earnings report.
"We have seen a mixed reception and performance for the externally developed game Payday 3 and a few smaller releases in the quarter," Wingefors' statement reads. The CEO expects Payday 3 to "contribute positively" to Embracer's earnings in the current fiscal year, but this would still be "below management expectations."
This is because, Wingefors says, Payday 3 had "a softer launch" due to an "unforeseen error relating to external matchmaking software impacted the experience." That's a long-winded way to say Payday 3's servers took a beating at launch and were only up and running properly six full weeks after release.
Elsewhere, Wingefors confirmed that Embracer had laid off 900 staff in the previous financial quarter. "In this group-wide effort, we are not only discontinuing a number of studios, we have also made staff reductions and reduced the number of projects in several other studios, with a focus on improving the projected return on investment within PC/Console," the CEO said.
The "restructuring effort" was first announced by Embracer in June earlier this year. Wingefors said at the time that Embracer would "reduce third-party publishing," and would be making an unspecified number of staff redundant of its total 17,000 workers around the world, but we now know the number of staff impacted.
Read up on our Payday 3 Matchmaking and Nebula errors guide if you're currently experiencing problems in the shooter.
The latest studio to be affected by Embracer's «comprehensive restructuring programme» is Insurgency and Day of Infamy developer New World Interactive.
German developer Fishlabs is the latest Embracer outfit to experience job cuts.
After reports from earlier this month that developer Free Radical Design—which had been working on a revival of classic sci-fi shooter TimeSplitters—was on the verge of being shut down, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has seemingly confirmed internally that the studio will be closed before Christmas.
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors has reportedly confirmed to employees that TimeSplitters studio Free Radical is facing closure next month, as part of a sweeping restructuring programme that has already resulted in more than 900 job cuts at the company.
The Embracer mass layoffs train has come for Fishlabs, the Hamburg-based studio behind space shooter Chorus. Embracer have laid off more than half the Fishlabs team - "around 50 people" - as part of a restructuring operation that has already seen the Swedish conglomerate cut over 900 jobs across their business over the summer.
TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design faces closure before Christmas, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has privately acknowledged.
Embracer boss Lars Wingefors is staying tight-lipped on the current state of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake.
The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake sparked some serious excitement when it was announced back in 2021. KOTOR is a seriously good RPG and a top-tier Star Wars experience, but at 20 years old it's also very dated. Unfortunately, it has not been smooth sailing since, and at this point there's legitimate doubt that the remake will ever see the light of day. And there was no good news on the status of the game in the most recent Embracer Group financial report—in fact, it was quite the opposite.
"Anything I say to this becomes a headline," said media-weary Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors in response to a question about the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, fielding inquiries during an earnings presentation on Thursday. And, like, I get it. But also, can you blame fans for their eagerness to get an update on the project after so many months of silence and uncertainty?
As initially reported by IGN, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors commented during a financial presentation that he has no comment on the state of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake. He also states, “Anything I say to this becomes a headline.” Yes, sir. Yes, sir, it will.
There’s been plenty of hope to see the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake launch into the marketplace. The game was praised when it was unveiled to be in the works again, years after the folks first launched from the folks at BioWare. However, there’s been a long gap now regarding actual updates. The video game has yet to be outright canceled for the public, but it’s been kept very much under wraps on its current progress. In fact, Embracer’s CEO was recently asked about the game again, and his statement doesn’t indicate what is going on with the IP.
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors has chosen not to deny reports that Timesplitters studio Free Radical Design faces closure.