The Rise and Fall of Embracer (aka THQ Nordic)

[karoliner]

All i wanted from Eidos was an ending to the Adam Jensen story.

 

[deuxhero]

Historically, Ubisoft has been in a pretty good position though. Ubisoft is, honestly, one of the better run companies in the industry. I spent many years there and know many folks who still happily work there a decade later.

Yeah, this sounds like bullshit. The devs you've heard of all ran the fuck away from Ubisoft. If there's any truth, it's that Ubisoft is an assembly line that knows what it wants, keeps people who make what it wants, and you're never wondering if it's going to want more (so no retarded suits firing the team that just produced a massively successful product rather than use them to make more successful product)

All i wanted from Eidos was an ending to the Adam Jensen story.

Do a comic and then get them to work on something that isn't dependent upon two prior games of piss filter to care about.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

It continues.

Destroy All Humans studio reportedly cuts half its staff​

Black Forest Games latest to suffer layoffs.

News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief

Published on 25 Jan 2024


Black Forest Games, the Embracer-owned studio behind Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 remakes, has laid off around half of its staff.
Kotaku reported the layoffs last night, and said the studio had 110 employees as of a headcount made public last year. Staff were told of the cuts yesterday, and have begun posting about them on social media.

The next project from Black Forest Games is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, a dark and gritty God of War-inspired take on the franchise adapted from the acclaimed comic book series of the same name.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin was formally announced by THQ in a showcase event last summer, where a trailer confirmed it was on the way for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. An earlier report suggested it was still years from release, however.

The video game industry has been plagued by layoffs over the past year, with many companies owned by the Embracer group suffering in particular.

Embracer's ongoing program to cut costs and slim down has seen several studios closed, and many others downsized. Earlier this week, Elex studio Piranha Bytes stated it was facing closure.

As has become typical, Embracer has not yet commented on the matter.

 

[toro]

https://embracer.com/releases/embracer-group-announces-extension-of-credit-and-loan-facilities/

Embracer Group AB (”Embracer”) has entered into agreements for its two main credit- and loan facilities, with a nominal value of around SEK 17 billion, extending the maturity until February and May 2025, respectively. The amendment agreements include scheduled quarterly minimum prepayments, that amount to SEK 2.6 billion on an accumulated basis up until January 2025, starting in Q1 FY 24/25. The currently expected interest rate on the group’s total debt, based on a floating rate, is around 6.15%.

“We are pleased to further strengthen Embracer’s financial flexibility, which also demonstrates the confidence that our main banks and financial institutions have in our financial profile and strategy. As part of the ongoing restructuring program, we have the ambition to reduce debt, both on a gross and net debt level. This credit and loan extension is aligned with our own agenda and puts us in a stronger position as we transition from heavy-investment mode to a highly cash-flow generative business”, says Lars Wingefors, co-founder and Group CEO of Embracer.

December 18, 2023

They have to pay a minimum of 230,279,195.38 Euro each three months in 2024. They need to release profitable games and a slamdunk each 3 months.

This is not possible in the gaming industry. It's over for these greedy bastards.

They will probably cancel every project which cannot be released sooner than May 2025. They will simply destroy IPs and studios until they spiral out of control.

There are better ways to handle a downfall but I guess Lars is an imbecile.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Space marine bombing will finish them off.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Where is Good Guy Phil when you need him?

 

[toro]

Where is Good Guy Phil when you need him?

He is still helping the remaining staff of Eidos-Montreal to stay afloat.

 

[Swen]

That's what happens when you don't have a genius running the company like Larian.

 

[toro]

Normally Embracer should have sold a couple of studios as soon as the Saudi affair went south.

Now, everyone knows that they are desperate and like vultures, they will wait for the final implosion and then they will buy at the lowest price.

Lars, the marketing genious seems unprepared to do the heavy lifting necesarry to turn around the situation.

 

[flyingjohn]

Embracer buys aaa studios to produce aa content. Leaves the devs alone to do their own thing for years. Shocked Pikachu face when the aaa costs come knocking.
Embracer should have gutted 2/3 of everybody to make sure they can't even attempt to waste money and enforced a strict two years max dev time.

 

[Endemic]

Embracer buys aaa studios to produce aa content. Leaves the devs alone to do their own thing for years. Shocked Pikachu face when the aaa costs come knocking.

Sure, but going on a buying spree without waiting for the first couple of rounds of investments to pay back was stupid.

Normally Embracer should have sold a couple of studios as soon as the Saudi affair went south.

Now, everyone knows that they are desperate and like vultures, they will wait for the final implosion and then they will buy at the lowest price.

Lars, the marketing genius seems unprepared to do the heavy lifting necessary to turn around the situation.

It's regrettable that the studios they acquired are going to take the hit, instead of those making the bad financial calls at Embracer.

 

[toro]

Normally Embracer should have sold a couple of studios as soon as the Saudi affair went south.

Now, everyone knows that they are desperate and like vultures, they will wait for the final implosion and then they will buy at the lowest price.

Lars, the marketing genius seems unprepared to do the heavy lifting necessary to turn around the situation.

It's regrettable that the studios they acquired are going to take the hit, instead of those making the bad financial calls at Embracer.

Shareholders capitalism. Everyone is getting fucked except the shareholders. Until it breaks.

 

[SlamDunk]

Embracer Laid Off Nearly 1,400 Employees in Less Than a Year - 80.lv

From the new report, you can see that in less than a year, Embracer let go of 1,383 workers: in March 2023 it had 16,601 employees and by the end of December – only 15,218. The company has also canceled 42 games, it seems, as it's now working on 179 projects but there were 221 in March.

Summary of the report: https://embracer.com/releases/embra...et-sales-increased-by-4-to-sek-12050-million/

Full report: https://embracer.com/wp-content/upl...NCREASED-BY-4-TO-SEK-12050-MILLION-240215.pdf

 

[abija]

That's less than microsoft did in the actiblizz merger. Not impressive.

 

[Abu Antar]

29 more unannounced games cancelled.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Quick, someone post this as a topic to Reddit. I wanna see the Communist revolución in action haha.

 

[Swen]

Maybe I should buy Embracer

 

[BlackAdderBG]

What a strange thing to say, shareholder lawsuit incoming or what.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

Maybe I should buy Embracer

Only if you sell me Ion Storm.

 

[911 Jumper]

Embracer CEO says layoffs are "something that everyone needs to get through"

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said that the current reduction in workforce at the company and across the industry is "something that everyone needs to get through," later adding that the group's strategy has been to cut the things that have "the lowest chance of success going forward" and to only keep "the most iconic studios."

This conversation was part of the Q&A portion of the company's earnings call yesterday, as it announced its Q3 results.

Answering a question about the underlying games market, Wingefors said that the whole industry has been feeling a "significant shift" since last summer.

"More or less all companies are [going] through a restructuring program," he said, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "There is less investments made from the industry into content. I think the underlying consumer market is solid and is still growing, but the underlying changes – there's a lot of underlying changes made to the industry. That obviously affects all of us in the industry.

"I think looking at the 8% reduction in workforce [at Embracer], there is obviously – I don't know the number for the whole industry, but I think it's something that everyone needs to get through. I mean, as I said, it's more driven by the overinvestment in the previous years because everyone just put all capital into gaming and perhaps a bit too much capital in a few instances."

More at the link
Source: Games Industry.biz

 

[Echo Mirage]

Realistically which studio can handle a new Thief? I feel like they would book Night Dive for a remaster of The Dark Project first, but when it comes to Thief 5 it's not like there are a lot of choices out there.

Why should TDP be subjected to a remaster? For new visual effects, lighting etc? Newdark works just fine.

Why? Because money.

 

[Baron Dupek]

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Realistically which studio can handle a new Thief? I feel like they would book Night Dive for a remaster of The Dark Project first, but when it comes to Thief 5 it's not like there are a lot of choices out there.

Why should TDP be subjected to a remaster? For new visual effects, lighting etc? Newdark works just fine.

Why? Because money.

There is no big money in Thief, or stealth games in general.

 

[Gerrard]

Realistically which studio can handle a new Thief? I feel like they would book Night Dive for a remaster of The Dark Project first, but when it comes to Thief 5 it's not like there are a lot of choices out there.

Why should TDP be subjected to a remaster? For new visual effects, lighting etc? Newdark works just fine.

Why? Because money.

There is no big money in Thief, or stealth games in general.

Not with that attitude.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Realistically which studio can handle a new Thief? I feel like they would book Night Dive for a remaster of The Dark Project first, but when it comes to Thief 5 it's not like there are a lot of choices out there.

Why should TDP be subjected to a remaster? For new visual effects, lighting etc? Newdark works just fine.

Why? Because money.

There is no big money in Thief, or stealth games in general.

Not with that attitude.

My attitude towards stealth games is correct.