EMBRACER GROUP News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Embracer Group, the embattled gaming conglomerate that owns the rights to 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise, has announced that it is splitting into three different companies. The group, which went through significant restructuring this year and sold off major game studios like Saber Interactive and Gearbox to reduce debt, will separate into Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. The three games and entertainment companies will be standalone, publicly listed entities, Embracer said, with the split “enabling each entity to better focus on their respective core strategies and offer more differentiated and distinct equity stories for existing and new shareholders.”

When Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors declared an end to the company's nine-month restructuring program at the start of this month, you would have been forgiven for assuming that things would finally settle for the troubled games group.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors has suggested he must shoulder much of the blame for a “long list” of mistakes that led to a “painful” restructuring of the company.

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Embracer Group has announced its intention to transform into three standalone publicly listed entities: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

Swedish game and media holding company Embracer Group has announced its plans to split into three separate entities.

Famed mass-layoff-manufacturing corporation Embracer Group are dividing into three companies, which will be listed separately on Sweden’s stock exchange. Those companies are: Asmodee Group, which comprises Embracer’s tabletop games biz; Coffee Stain & Friends, an evolution of the existing Coffee Stain publisher, who will pursue "a dual focus on indie and A/AA premium and free-to-play games for PC/console and mobile"; and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, “a creative powerhouse in AAA game development and publishing for PC and console, as well as the stewards of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider intellectual properties, among many others”.

After nearly a year of layoffs and companies like Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment departing, the Embracer Group has announced that it will split into three publicly listed companies operating as standalone entities. The companies in question are Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain and Friends and Middle-earth Enterprises and Friends.

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Embracer Group has announced its intent to split into three separately listed companies through 2024 and 2025 in the most drastic restructuring effort since the company fell into financial hardship last year, and bringing an end to the megalithic IP and studio acquisition project of the last decade. Asmodee Group will split off this year, with “Coffee Stain & Friends” and “Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends” then splitting up in 2025.

The $70 release day price for standard AAA titles is both unsustainable and on the way out, claims Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch, via an interview with IGN reporter Rebekah Valentine.

Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch believes the ‘$70 game’ will eventually become a thing of the past, as developers move to reduce costs and risk in an increasingly challenging AAA games market.

Saber Interactive founder Matthew Karch has launched a defence of his former employer Embracer Group and its CEO, Lars Wingefors.

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Gearbox Entertainment has announced an unspecified number of redundancies following its sale from Embracer last week.

The CEO of Saber Interactive has confirmed that its remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is still in active development.

Since its reveal at PlayStation Showcase in 2021, Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic Remake has had a tumultuous development history. The remake of the beloved RPG from 2003 was delayed indefinitely and changed developers in 2022, with Saber Interactive taking over from Aspyr. Last month, Saber along with other studios under its brand and its licensed IPs, was sold for $247 million by Embracer Group, creating further uncertainty around the remake project. Now, Saber has confirmed that the studio is still working on the game.

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Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has acknowledged it's «way too early» for the company to «start talking about» acquiring new studios.

After failing to close a $2 billion deal with Saudia Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, in June of last year, Embracer Group announced that it would be shuttering studios, cutting jobs, and cancelling games as part of a significant internal restructuring program in order to get its finances back into shape. That restructuring program is now finally over, with Gearbox Entertainment’s sale to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million seemingly being the final major step of that process.

It was recently announced that Embracer Group is selling Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million, but though the Borderlands developer is escaping the grasp of a company that has been in love with layoffs this past year, it’s still been hit with a fresh round of layoffs nonetheless.

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors has told investors he believes it’s “too early” for the group to start considering studio acquisitions again, following the completion of its costly restructuring.

Earlier today, megacorp Embracer announced they were selling Borderlands developer Gearbox to Take-Two. During an investor call about the divestment, CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed that this brought an end to the restructuring process Embracer announced last year. He was also asked whether this meant Embracer had plans to start acquiring other studios again.

2K has said that the next Borderlands game is in active development at Gearbox.

Embracer have announced that they're selling Borderlands developers Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive, owners of 2K Games and GTA 6 developers Rockstar, for $460 million in Take-Two shares. Three Gearbox Software studios - the flagship studio in Texas, together with Gearbox Montréal and Gearbox Quebec - will change hands as part of the deal. Take-Two will also acquire the Borderlands and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands franchises, together with Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem.

Gearbox Software is officially splitting from the Embracer Group, acquired alongside Gearbox Quebec and Gearbox Montreal by Take-Two Interactive for $460 million. However, several studios under Gearbox Entertainment will remain with Embracer, including Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, formerly Perfect World Entertainment.

Embracer Group has announced that it has sold Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive.

The co-founder of Free Radical Design has spoken about his disappointment at the cancellation of the TimeSpliters reboot, and has suggested he’s likely finished with the franchise.

I was eagerly awaiting the return of TimeSplitters.

Cryptic Studios is in a period of transition under Deca Games after recent changes at parent company Embracer Group moved Cryptic under that division. While all of Cryptic’s MMOs will continue to get new content and updates, there will be Deca devs starting to “take over the creation of some of the content”.

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Embracer Group has announced the $247 million sale of Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive, a new parent company that is owned by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch.

With Saber Interactive splitting from the Embracer Group in a $247 million deal, there’s the question of which projects the developer is still handling. Chief creative officer Tim Willits has addressed the same on Twitter, confirming that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, and Jurassic Park: Survival are still under its purview.

According to Embracer Group, the remake likely won’t release within the next year. Embracer also announced the sale of Saber Interactive, with the KOTOR remake now a joint venture.

The COO of Saber has confirmed the ongoing development of three of its games, after its recent sale from Embracer Group led to questions being asked about their status.

The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is reportedly still in development at Saber Interactive, but it doesn’t sound like it will be released in the next 12 months.

Embracer has officially sold Saber Interactive, to the tune of $ 247 million.

It was announced earlier today that Saber Interactive will be splitting from parent company Embracer Group in a deal worth $247 million, with a number of studios and projects being divvied up between the two companies. The fate of the ever-troubled project Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake was left unknown, though some potential information on it may have emerged since then.

Saber Interactive have parted ways with Embracer Group, buying back the rights to both themselves and numerous other studios in a deal initially valued at $247 million. The deal includes 38 ongoing game development projects plus the rights to 3D Realms, Slipgate Ironworks, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant, Mad Head, Digic, Fractured Byte and PR agency Sandbox Strategies, as well as Metro developers 4A Games and Pinball FX maker Zen Studios via options.

Embracer has sold Saber Interactive for $247 million.

Embracer Group has entered into an agreement to sell Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive, a company controlled by Saber Interactive co-founder Matthew Karch, for a purchase price of USD $247 million, the company announced.

Embracer Group has announced the $247 million sale of Saber Interactive to Beacon Interactive, a new parent company that is owned by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch.

Recent reports had indicated that Saber Interactive was on the verge agreeing a deal with parent company Embracer Group that would see it going independent. That has now been officially confirmed.

Troubled video game publisher Embracer has announced the sale of more of its assets — this time, large portions of Saber Interactive, for the price of $247m.

It was reported in late February that Saber Interactive was on the verge of buying back its independence from parent company Embracer Group to go independent in a deal worth $500 million, and it recent developments have indicated that that deal is edging closer to completion.

Saber Interactive has removed references to Embracer Group from its website, suggesting reports of a sale are accurate.

In a new report from GameDeveloper, the CEO of Starbreeze Studios Tobias Sjögren is no longer with the company. This follows the unsatisfactory release of Payday 3 last September.

2013’s Payday 2 has almost 85 times as many average players on Steam as 2023’s Payday 3.

A little while back, Embracer Group sadly shut down Timesplitter's studio Free Radical Design in a typical case of Embracer-led restructuring. After the closure, a former Free Radical developer revealed they'd worked on a "clone" of Fortnite before it transitioned to a remake of Timesplitters 2. And now footage has emerged of the cancelled project, which certainly does look like a team shooter reminiscent of Epic's epic.

Footage showing Free Radical Design's sadly-cancelled TimeSplitters project has surfaced online, revealing five minutes of gameplay.

Footage from Free Radical’s cancelled TimeSplitters game has been shared online by the team’s head of art.

Swedish gaming company Embracer Group AB will sell one of its largest subsidiaries, Saber Interactive, to a group of private investors in a deal worth up to $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,142 crore), according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Embracer is closing in on sales of Saber Interactive and Gearbox, it’s reported, with the company looking to shed two of its most noteworthy acquisitions of the last few years in an effort to dig itself out of a financial hole.

A new rumor has emerged that Embracer is close to selling Gearbox Software.

Gearbox could be “closer than ever” to being sold off by its parent company Embracer Group, according to a new report.

Embracer Group will sell Saber Interactive to a group of private investors in a deal worth up to $500 million, according to a Bloomberg report citing a person familiar with the transaction.

Embracer Group are reportedly selling off Saber Interactive, the company behind the Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic remake and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 among many other things. Apparently, Saber are being flogged to a group of private investors for "up to" $500 million.

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Amid studio closures and layoffs at The Embracer Group, one of its biggest studios, Saber Interactive, is reportedly separating. Speaking to someone familiar with the deal, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that a group of private investors have acquired the studio for up to $500 million.

Embracer Group is reportedly set to sell Saber Interactive in a deal worth up to $500 million.

If you’ve paid attention to gaming news throughout the first six weeks of 2024, you’ll know that one of the biggest ongoing stories is that there have been TONS of layoffs across the industry within those first six weeks. As we reported in January, there have already been over 5500 jobs lost so far, and in all of 2023, there were 10,000. Given other reports about layoffs, downsizing, restructuring, and so on, it will likely hit over 10K in losses before too long. That brings us to The Embracer Group because they are a company that has helped with those layoff numbers, but their CEO defends what they’ve done.

Development studio Flying Wild Hog has unionized, marking the latest unionization effort in a very rough time for gaming industry workers. The Polish studio, owned by Embracer Group, has seen its parent company shed nearly 1,400 jobs and more planned in a reorganization process.

When Embracer Group’s $2 billion deal with Saudia Arabia’s Savvy Games Group fellow through last year, with a sudden need to balance its numbers, the company announced in June that it was initiating an internal restructuring program that would entail widespread layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations.

There isn’t much of the games industry that hasn’t been impacted to some degree by the wave of layoffs it’s been suffering for more than a year at this point, but very few companies have contributed to that damage as much as Embracer Group has. Embracer announced an internal restructuring program in June last year after it failed to close a $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games group, and since then, across all of its studios, it has laid off a startling number of people.

Embracer Group’s ongoing restructuring has resulted in the company cutting 1,400 jobs, or about 8% of its global workforce, it confirmed on Thursday.

Embracer Group cancelled 29 unannounced games during a six-month period last year, the company confirmed on Thursday.

Embracer has laid off 8 percent of its workforce as its restructuring programme reaches «mature stages».

Embracer have released their interim financial results for Q3, October-December 2023, in which they share details of the conglomerate's on-going efforts to "restructure" and reduce their massive debts, to the tune of hundreds of layoffs over the past year.

Embracer has publicly disclosed they have laid off 8 % of their staff.

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A developer who worked on Immortals of Aveum has said it was “a truly awful idea” to release a game of its type, with such a large budget attached to it.

Embracer-owned studio Black Forest Games reportedly plans to lay off approximately half of its employees.

Black Forest Games, the Embracer-owned studio behind Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 remakes, has laid off around half of its staff.

Games industry leaders have suggested that widespread job losses across the market last year will continue throughout 2024 and likely stretch into next year too.

Piranha Bytes is reportedly facing closure as part of Embracer Group’s ongoing restructuring efforts.

Around a third of developers say they were impacted by layoffs at their workplace over a 12-month period.

Swedish video game holding company Thunderful Group has announced plans to lay off a fifth of its staff.

Aspyr has detailed how it’s updated the original Tomb Raider trilogy for modern platforms.

The early months of 2023 saw Embracer Group failing to close a $2 billion deal with Saudia Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, following which the company initiated a restructuring program that would entail layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures. Sadly, Embracer Group’s continued efforts to stabilize its financial situation have come at the cost of a staggering number of company-wide cuts, and that’s something that’s continued into the new year.

2023 has been another great year for games as a whole with some exceptional experiences that have been a pure joy to play, but as always there’s been some jarring disappointments that hit hard, and we’ve seen the impact of slowing economies around the world on executives making business decisions.