Embracer Group Restructuring Hits Fishlabs With About 50 Layoffs

Embracer Group’s internal restructuring program has been a brutal one that has resulted in mass layoffs across a number of studios owned by the company, and the company is continuing to make cuts. The latest studios that have been hit with layoffs are 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks, both of which were acquired in 2021 and operate under the Saber Interactive banner.

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Embracer Group’s brutal company-wide cutbacks are continuing, and Free Radical Design is the latest studio to suffer the chopping block. Reports indicated last month that Embracer was considering shuttering the TimeSplitters studio just two years after its re-establishment, while later in November, it emerged that Free Radical was facing closure before Christmas.

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By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

New World Interactive, a subsidiary of Saber Interactive, is seeing layoffs. The studio is the latest one under the overall Embracer Group umbrella to face layoffs as part of the company’s major restructuring.

Yesterday, Nick Calandra first circulated the rumor that the Embracer Group had closed down New World Interactive. The rumor was then corroborated by Insider Gaming, although a Saber Interactive spokesperson later clarified the studio was being restructured, not shut down.

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There's more bad news out of struggling gaming conglomerate Embracer: The company has confirmed that approximately 50 employees are being laid off from Chorus developer Fishlabs, and is also reportedly looking at closing TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design completely.

It’s been a tough ol’ year for people working in the corporate video game world. Publishers and studios have been laying people off at an alarming rate. Embracer Group is just one example, and it’s recently been suggested that the holding company may be closing down Free Radical Design.

Around 50 job cuts are expected to be made at German studio Fishlabs, as Embracer Group’s restructuring program continues.