Embracer Group, the parent company of several game groups such as THQ Nordic, PLAION, Gearbox, etc. The latest financial report confirms900 employees (9% of all employees) were laid off in the recent quarter as of September, while the global sales of “Remnant 2” exceeded 2 million copies, and the performance of “Payday 3” was lower than senior management expectations.
different from Big acquisition of game developers in 2022Embracer Group’s game business is not going very well in 2023. After announcing a major restructuring plan in June, the latest quarterly financial report showed that the number of group development teams has shrunk from 10,889 to 10,654, and the number of games under development has dropped by 36 per year.
The financial report revealed that the number of Embracer employees decreased by 5%, with a total of about 900 people laid off. However, in terms of numbers, the financial situation has improved significantly compared with the previous quarter (April to June). Net sales from July to September increased by 13% year-on-year. Nearly US$36 million, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached US$170 million, and cash flow reached US$38 million.
CEO Lars Wingefors said in a statementthe quarterly performance is stable, thanks to the restructuring plan to achieve cost-saving purposes, and the effect is expected to be more obvious in the second half of the year.
Wingefors also called the layoffs a difficult decision. “It’s never easy to say goodbye to great talent, and I’m especially grateful to those who are leaving Embracer this season.”
In this layoff storm, studios such as the closed “Saints Row” Volition and Campfire Cabal, which was founded less than a year ago, have downsized such as “StarCraft Online” Cryptic, the remake of “Star Wars: The Old Republic” Samurai Beamdog, Borderlands series Gearbox, Zen Studios, etc.
Further reading: The parent company has made the difficult decision to close “Volition”, the development studio of “Saints Row” today
Middle-Earth Enterprises, which was acquired last year, seems to have high hopes from senior management. The company will accelerate the incubation of the IP of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”. Wingefors said that the company plans to “tailor-make products for different market segments in the next few years.” Create an exciting “Lord of the Rings” IP project.”
Although it is not certain whether games will be included, the CEO revealed that Embracer had explored signing a new “Lord of the Rings” movie contract with Warner Bros. in February this year, and there is currently no updated development due to the strike at The Hollywood Reporter.
Embracer Group’s financial report also revealed that the treasure shooting game “Remnant 2”, which was released on July 25, has sold 2 million copies worldwide, contributing to net sales of more than 66 million US dollars.
“Remnant 2” was developed by Gunfire Games, a subsidiary of THQ Nordic, and published by Gearbox Publishing. At that time, it defeated “Diablo 4” in a short period of time and successfully topped the US game sales list.
In addition, the financial report also briefly mentioned that “Payday 3”, which was released on September 21, received mixed reviews among players. The developer solved the connection matching problem not long after its launch, and earned back the investment cost in this quarter, getting rid of the deficit. Contribute profits to the parent company.
Extended reading: “PAYDAY 3” free update will return to the “Cook Off” classic map, and the number of Steam connections is significantly lower than that of “PAYDAY 2”
Embracer originally expected that “Payday 3” would bring positive contributions in the 2023/24 fiscal year, but the result was “lower than management expectations” because “hard-to-prevent errors related to external matchmaking software affected the player experience, resulting in The initial review is on the rocks.”
The global gaming community has been quite turbulent recently. After Unity, Amazon Games and Digital Bros, the parent company of 505 Games, successively announced layoffs, Embracer confirmed that it would lay off 5% of its staff. At the same time, the charity gift pack Humble Bundle PublisherHumble Games Layoffs were also announced, but officials did not disclose the exact number.
