In March, the CEO of Embracer announced that the company's widespread removal of workers across their many owned studios was over. That has turned out to be false, as the megacorp continues to enforce layoffs and close down studios. Now, a support studio for Diablo IV and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has suffered further layoffs, with over half the employees at the studio losing their jobs.
]]>The studio-killing fallout of Embracer's acquisition frenzy continues to fall like ash on the industry. The publishing giant has reportedly closed Piranha Bytes, the studio known for cult RPGs like Gothic, Risen, and Elex, according to a worker who spoke to Polish games site CD-Action. The studio's existence had been under threat since early this year, after being targeted in Embracer's purgatorial studio massacre. At that time the German studio were hopeful to avoid being closed down, insisting "don't write us off yet!" Unfortunately, it looks like those who worked at the studio have since been laid off.
]]>A phoenix is a mythological firebird that is periodically reborn from its own ashes, a symbol of cyclical renewal. It's also, according to several former employees of Chorus developers Fishlabs in Hamburg, an internal title for the massive cost-cutting project begun by Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group in June 2023.
The current incarnation of a bewildering series of mergers, renamings and acquisitions that date back to the founding of Nordic Games in 2004, Embracer have spent much of the past decade buying up video game studios and licenses, from Deus Ex developers Eidos Montreal to the adaptation rights for The Lords Of The Rings. According to a February 2023 earnings report, by the end of December 2022 the conglomerate had 134 internal studios on the books (including table-top developers) and owned or controlled over 850 IPs, with 224 games in development. Our Graham warned of the perils of such consolidation in 2019, and his misgivings have been borne out. Following the reported collapse of a billion dollar Savvy Games investment deal, Embracer set out to recover their debts by cancelling projects, laying off staff and closing whole studios. Fishlabs - acquired by Embracer in 2018 alongside their parent company Koch Media, nowadays Plaion - were among those burned by "Project Phoenix", first losing a dozen people in September 2023, and then around half their remaining workforce in November. In the process of these reductions, Embracer also binned off two video game projects – a sumptuous sci-fi metroidvania that was in full development, and a "visual prototype" for a brand new Red Faction game.
]]>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 writing roughly 100,000 posts about Embracer’s butchering of vast swathes of the games industry, this is surely my chance to raise a cheer and celebrate the conglomerate’s unglomming with a cool glass of turnip juice, but it is Monday, the man next door is shouting again, and I am tired - so tired that only ill-suited Simpsons references come to mind.
]]>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.
Speaking to Valentine, Karch reckoned in public that the $70 game is “going to go the way of the dodo" because it isn't "sustainable". Here's the full chunk:
]]>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.
Wingefors said it was "way too early" to restart "the M&A engines."
]]>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.
Embracer will keep and rename Gearbox Publishing San Francisco, previously known as Perfect World Entertainment. They're also hanging onto Cryptic Studios, who went through a round of layoffs in November, together with their MMOs Neverwinter Online and Star Trek Online. They're also clinging onto Borderlands 3 support studio Lost Boys Interactive, who went through a round of layoffs in January, plus 3D scanning and reconstruction outfit Captured Dimensions. Last but not least, they'll keep the publishing rights to the Remnant series, Hyper Light Breaker and "other notable unannounced game releases".
]]>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.
]]>[audience makes "wohhhhh" controversial noise]
I know, I know! Some might argue that Human Revolution is the best Deus Ex game, but they're wrong, it's clearly Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The last, new Deus Ex game to be made will be free to keep from the Epic Games Store for a week starting March 14th.
]]>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.
]]>It's looking increasingly likely that Gearbox Entertainment is going to be sold by Embracer. In a town hall with staff earlier this week, CEO and co-founder Randy Pitchford reportedly told staff that a decision had been made regarding the studio's future, with more details to be shared in March.
Embracer bought Gearbox for $1.3 billion (around £1.02 billion) in 2021, but it was reported that they were looking to sell last year as part of ongoing layoffs, closures and divestments.
]]>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.
]]>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.
Amid the talk of revenues, profits and losses, we learn that Embracer have laid off 8% of their global workforce since announcing their restructuring program in June 2023. According to the report, Embracer's total headcount has fallen from 16,243 in the period October-December 2022 to 15,218 in the period October-December 2023. The number of Embracer studio game projects in development, meanwhile, has fallen from 224 to 179.
]]>Embracer Group is once again doing sterling work to demonstrate the perils of consolidation. Piranha Bytes, who are one of well over a hundred studios that Embracer bought up in recent years, today posted a statement on Xitter saying "Don't write us off yet!". The statement goes on to say that they're "convinced they will succeed". Succeed at what, you might ask? Not being shut down by Embracer.
]]>Everybody's favourite bulk-buyer of studios and licenses Embracer Group have announced that they've laid off 900 people over the last three months, as per restructuring plans revealed this summer - around five percent of their total workforce.
]]>Resurrected TimeSplitters developers Free Radical Design could be the next Embracer-owned studio to be shuttered, according to recent reports. The rumoured closure comes just two years after the veteran British label were resurrected by their original founders to work on a new TimeSplitters game.
]]>Embracer Group, the corp who've spent several years buying up dozens of video game studios, today announced a financial restructuring that will involve closing studios, cancelling games, and laying off employees. They say this will leave them a "stronger, more efficient company". Their purchases include Gearbox, Crystal Dynamics, Volition, the rights to The Lord Of The Rings, and so many more. Embracer own 138 studios and have over 16,500 people working for them, and it's not clear how many will remain afterwards.
]]>Amazon Games are taking another stab at creating an MMO based on The Lord Of The Rings world, this time partnering with the Embracer Group who recently bought the entirety of Middle-Earth - the IP, not the realms, though I wouldn't put it past them. The untitled project is currently in early development for both PC and consoles with Orange County - the folks behind MMO New World - leading the charge.
]]>The end of support for Marvel's Avengers was announced in January, but wrapping up a live service game and doing it right is a gradual process. Yesterday saw the release of patch 2.8, its last content update, which made "nearly all" cosmetics free, converted in-game currency into resources, and handed out rewards as a thank you to players.
]]>Ghost Ship Games have found major success with their co-op space-mining sim Deep Rock Galactic, and now they’re expanding into indie games publishing with Ghost Ship Publishing. The team have described the initiative as a launchpad for indies in the “rapidly growing Danish games industry and beyond.” Ghost Ship Publishing haven’t announced any games yet, but we’ll get to see their upcoming projects on March 2nd as part of Deep Rock Galactic’s fifth-anniversary livestream.
]]>Lara Croft has seen her fair share of live-action adaptations, but this time she’s raiding the small screen with a Tomb Raider TV series and a film in development at Amazon. THR reported that the Emmy-winning Fleabag writer Pheobe Waller-Bridge is set to pen (and executive produce) the upcoming show, though there's no word on who's attached with the film. THR states that Amazon is looking to "build out a connected world of Tomb Raider, with the video game, TV series and film." This sounds a little ambitious, considering that Crytal Dynamics' game is already in production, so we'll have to wait and see how the adaptations interact with the games.
]]>Crystal Dynamics are ending support for Marvel's Avengers, their live service superhero game. That means it won't receive any further new content, its final balance patch will be released on March 31st, and all other support and the sale of the game will cease on September 30th. Players who already own the game at that point will be able to continue playing in single- and multiplayer, for at least a while.
]]>The next Tomb Raider will again be developed by Crystal Dynamics, but this time with "full support and publishing" provided by Amazon Games. It's the second game which Amazon have announced they're publishing in quick succession, after last week revealing that they would bring Bandai Namco MMO Blue Protocol to the west.
]]>The developers of Marvel’s Avengers have removed the game’s design lead Brian Waggoner as a spokesperson after offensive tweets were brought to light. Waggoner had posted a racist comment on the social media platform in 2014, and an ableist one in 2010. Members of the Marvel’s Avengers community have uncovered and shared other examples of Waggoner’s behaviour online from before he joined Crystal Dynamics.
]]>The Risk Of Rain intellectual property and both Risk Of Rain and Risk Of Rain 2 are now owned by Gearbox. Gearbox were previously the publisher of Risk Of Rain 2 and say they are "eager to prove ourselves as worthy custodians" of the series. They bought the IP from original developers Hopoo Games, who say they won't be doing any more work on the series.
]]>This year's Saints Row reboot met financial expectations, according to the interim report of mega-publisher Embracer. The same can't be said of the critical response, however, so developers Volition "will transition to become part of Gearbox."
]]>A return to the cyberpunk world of Deus Ex is coming courtesy of Human Revolution and Mankind Divided developers Eidos Montreal, it’s been claimed. The snippet of info that the new Deus Ex game is in the very, very early stages was reported by Bloomberg following yesterday’s revelation that sister studio Onoma is closing down. Eidos Montreal are also alleged to be working on a completely new game, as well as helping out with some co-development on some Microsoft-owned series, including the new Fable.
]]>Fancy playing a new Legacy Of Kain game at some point in the indefinite future? Well, Crystal Dynamics are running a survey seeking opinions about where a hypothetical next instalment in the series might go. They’re also checking whether anyone would be up for remasters or remakes of earlier games, such as Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver. If you don’t enjoy the sound of a satirical co-op beat ‘em up set in the vampiric realm of Nosgoth then you might want to chime in with your thoughts.
]]>Eidos Montreal, the studio behind recent Thief and Deus Ex games, say they are "now the owner of the games [we] developed, like the Deus Ex and Thief games." Likewise, Crystal Dynamics say they have taken "control" of its Tomb Raider and Legacy Of Kain games from their previous owner, Square Enix.
Which sounds like a big deal, but really both studios are just reporting a change to their terms of service and privacy notices since they were bought by Embracer Group last month.
]]>Swedish media buyer-uppers Embracer Group have completed their $300 million (£253 million) acquisition of former Square Enix studios, begun in May this year. The deal sees Crystal Dynamics, Eidol Montréal and Square Enix Montréal become part of a 12th operating group within Embracer. Square Enix Montréal will now change their name.
]]>It’s a running gag that Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group regularly buy up large chunks of the games industry, but now they’ve only gone and bought a whole universe. Embracer have acquired the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit properties from long-time owner The Saul Zaentz Company. That includes games, along with movies and other media content, folks. Ol’ Embracer have also acquired seven companies within the gaming realm.
]]>If you're changing your company's name in part because it's hard to pronounce, you'd presumably want to change it to something with zero ambiguity. Seemingly not, if publisher Koch Media are any indication, as they announced today that they've changed their name to Plaion. At least the mispronunciations are now lower stakes.
]]>The Force isn’t strong with the remake of classic RPG Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, which has been delayed indefinitely following a badly received demo shown internally at the end of June. Bloomberg reports that the game’s design director and art director were subsequently fired from developers Aspyr Media during the week after the demo was finalised. Sources from Aspyr told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the game had been intended for a 2022 release, but that 2025 was more "realistic".
]]>Mary DeMarle, narrative designer and lead writer on Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, and on the more recent Guardians Of The Galaxy, is now senior narrative director at BioWare. The switch comes just a couple of months after Embracer Group bought Eidos Montreal and said they saw potential for Deus Ex spin-offs, sequels and remakes.
]]>Megacorp Embracer Group has announced that they are building a games archive, to preserve games culture and save it for the future. The project is in the early stages, but they've already got 50,000 games and consoles stored up waiting to be catalogued.
]]>Earlier this month, Embracer Group announced their intent to buy Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal from Square Enix in a $300 million (around £240m) deal. The acquisition includes the original IP associated with those studios, including Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy Of Kain and Tomb Raider.
In their quarterly earnings report, Embracer now say they see "great potential" in leveraging the heck out of that IP with sequels, remakes and more.
]]>Square Enix are to sell most of their Western studios and intellectual property such as Tomb Raider, Deux Ex, Thief and Legacy Of Kain to Sweden’s Embracer Group for $300 million (£240 million) in cash, it has been announced. The studios being sold to Embracer include Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal, but not the UK-based Square Enix Collective. This means Square will retain publishing rights to IP including Life Is Strange, Just Cause and Outriders.
]]>Perfect World Entertainment have announced that they’re now known as Gearbox Publishing. Or Gearbox Publishing have announced that they’re no longer Perfect World Entertainment. Same difference. Gearbox Publishing say the change shouldn’t affect anything to do with the ageing live service games they steward, like Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. They’re all part of the Embracer Group, y’see.
]]>Beamdog, the Canadian studio behind the 'Enhanced Edition' remasters of Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate, have announced their first original game: Mythforce. It's a roguelikelike first-person stabber with a striking visual style inspired by 80s children's cartoons. Also, Beamdog are being bought by Aspyr Media, joining the mahoosive Embracer Group as the consolidation of the games industry continues.
]]>Embracer Group are continuining to do their part in attempts to merge the entire video games industry into one megacorp, this week announcing another five intended acquisitions. Among these are Perfect World, the publishers of Star Trek Online and Torchlight, and the studio behind Scribblenauts Showdown, Shiver Entertainment. They're also going transmedia, buying comics and TV company Dark Horse as well as an animation company and a video-on-demand network. Now they just need to get into food and housing, then our dystopian dreams of one corp owning our entire lives can come true.
]]>Embracer Group, named for the wonderful hugs they give, have announced the acquisition of several development studios under their various subsidiaries. They now own 3D Realms, who, despite operating largely as a publisher nowadays, will forever be linked to Duke Nukem. This means that Embracer now owns both 3D Realms and Duke Nukem’s owners, Gearbox, who they acquired earlier this year. Can you see where this is heading?
]]>THQ Nordic, an arm of the monolithic and ever-hungry Embracer Group, today released new footie manager sim We Are Football - and I spy a very familiar absence-of-face on the box. The cover shows a fella in a suit pumping his fist, while his face is shrouded in shadow. I've seen this pose before. Could this be what happened to Football Manager's mascot after he was fired? Have Embracer Group acquired even Manager Man now? Where does it end?
]]>When Homeworld 3 launched a token crowdfunding campaign in 2019, it was through a site which not only lets people throw in cash, it lets some actually invest in the game and get paid if it does well. Well, that's off. While development continues, the investment aspect has been binned, presumably as a consequence of Homeworld owners Gearbox being bought by the ever-growing Embracer Group. But Homeworld 3 is still on. So that's fine.
]]>Back when Valheim had sold 3 million copies, we put together a totally legitimate and expert chart predicting how the survival game's sales would continue.
We predicted that it would have sold 6.8 million copies by around the 4th of March, which means today's announcement that it has now sold that many copies technically puts it behind schedule.
]]>The megacorp who own games companies including Deep Silver, THQ Nordic, Gearbox, and dozens of others have revealed they're still looking to buy so many more. Embracer Group said in a financial report today that they're currently in "more than 20 late-stage talks", having recently raised SEK 7.6 billion (£645m) to fund their ongoing spending spree. No hints yet on who they might be looking at but hell, guess a mid-sized studio or publisher who released a game you liked in the past five years and you'll probably be right.
]]>After 16 years, we're finally going to see a new TimeSplitters game. This morning, publisher Deep Silver announced they're reforming TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design, with "key original members" returning to work on a new entry in the time-travelling shooter series. There hasn't been a new TimeSplitters since Future Perfect in 2005, which, admittedly, is the only one I've played. I'd happily see more of it, though we'll likely be waiting a while before any newness appears.
]]>There's a real hint of necromancy about THQ Nordic. The mega-publisher has resurrected a few games over the past few years, with Kingdoms of Amalur probably being the one that made me go "Huh?" the most. Well, there’s more "huh" to go around, because they just opened up a new merchandise store and are selling Kingdoms of Amalur cushions with the game map on them.
]]>Gearbox Software have become the latest company to be snapped up by the monolithic Embracer Group, joining a lineup which includes THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, and Coffee Stain. The Group announced their intent to purchase the Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever gang in February, and yesterday said the acquisition is now complete. Gearbox say their plans include making new-new games as well as revisiting older worlds in some way.
]]>THQ Nordic announced today that they've established a new studio to make Gothic Remake, a fancy modern take on the fantasy RPG from 2001. This is the do-over they first revealed with a 'playable teaser' in 2019, which they released supposedly to gauge whether it was worth continuing. Based in Barcelona, Alkimia Interactive actually started up in summer 2020, but now THQ Nordic are out here shouting about the paperwork being settled.
]]>Now that Little Nightmares 2 is out, developers Tarsier Studios are moving onto something new. What is it? All they'll say is not not more Little Nightmares. However, publishers Bandai Namco, who own the rights to the horror puzzle-platformer series, have indicated they might have plans for "more content". Whatever that means?
]]>Not only did Embracer Group buy Borderlands devs Gearbox today, they also picked up Aspyr Media. Aspyr are mostly known for making Mac and Linux ports of other folks' Windows games, with a catalogue including Civilization VI and Borderlands, though they are getting into making their own games too. Sounds like they'll keep on keeping now they're part of Embracer.
]]>Embracer Group, a vast web of European developers and publishers which includes THQ Nordic and Deep Silver, today announced they've swallowed up Gearbox. The gang behind Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines are merging with Embracer to become the seventh operating group within the family. The deal's worth $363 million (£262m) to start. Gearbox say this is cool, and they're planning to grow.
]]>Embracer Group, parent company of THQ Nordic and Saber Interactive, have announced their acquisition of 13 companies today, 11 of which are game developers. Among the new acquisitions are Flying Wild Hog, currently developing Shadow Warrior 3, and Phoenix Point developers Snapshot Games.
]]>There's a new conductor on the Metro: Exodus train. Or driver, even. Captain? I might not know how trains work, but I can tell you that Metro developers 4A Games have just been picked up by Embracer Group for around $80 million (roughly £61 million), and are floating plans to put that partnership to work on a multiplayer take on the post-apocalyptic Muscovite.
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