Embracer Group, the proverbial grim reaper of online game acquisitions, has been wreaking havoc on the studios and IP it has acquired previously few years. From layoffs throughout a number of firms to shutting down of beloved studios like Saints Row developer Volition, and cancellations of huge, thrilling initiatives like a brand new Deus Ex recreation, Embracer has been shopping for up (and shutting down) firms with virtually nothing to indicate for it.
In its newest fiscal report, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors mentioned the corporate has extra plans within the works to unload a few of its investments, which might line up with experiences that Borderlands developer Gearbox Software program could also be up on the market. However he additionally says that additional “restructuring” might occur within the meantime, that means extra layoffs throughout the firm and its subsidiaries are possible coming. This follows the corporate shedding over eight p.c of its workforce previously yr, which is round 1,387 jobs, and canceling 29 video games throughout its firm.
Why? Properly, Wingefors says Embracer’s “overruling precept is to at all times maximize shareholder worth in any given scenario.” It is a factor everyone knows, however it’s not usually you get a swimsuit keen to say the quiet half out loud and on the report.
That is Embracer’s legacy, and folks on social media are already blasting Wingefors’ remark given the present trade local weather. And Embracer’s not the one firm that’s been buying studios and shedding scores of workers quickly after. Microsoft not too long ago lower almost 2,000 folks’s jobs after it finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Maybe we are able to lay to relaxation any notion that acquisitions on this scale are a great factor for video games—and we must always cease hyping them up with celebratory trailers.