Embracer Group is a huge name in the video game industry. The group owns franchises like Borderlands, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Legacy of Kain. It has been a challenging year for video game companies all over. Many have announced layoffs including Ascendant Studios, Ubisoft, Blizzard, Epic Games, Naughty Dog, and Telltale Games.
Embracer announced back in June that the company would be undergoing restructuring. As part of this, 900 employees were laid off as per the company’s latest financial report. Embracer published the Interim Report for Q2 on November 16, 2023. All of this happened after a deal for the company fell off. The future of titles that were rumored to be in development like the net Deus Ex game or Legacy of Kain is now in limbo.
What the Restructuring at Embracer Group Could Mean for Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain
Deus Ex is a franchise that was developed by Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal among others. Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal apart from other possessions to Embracer Group. The deal was finalized in 2022.
This means that the intellectual property is now owned by Embracer Group. The next title was reportedly in very early development at the end of 2022. Another franchise that was reportedly teased by developer Crystal Dynamics, also owned by Embracer was Legacy of Kain. Crystal Dynamics wanted to gauge the market sentiment on the franchise’s revival using a survey. The survey was sent to players of past Crystal Dynamics games, via email.
The survey received over 100 thousand responses and 73 thousand people completed the questionnaire as reported by VGC. CEO Phil Rogers assured fans that the studio was “listening to fans loudly and clearly”.All this led to fans being optimistic about the Legacy of Kain’s return. The series could come back after all in the form of a sequel, remake or remaster.
All of this happened because Embracer was targeting a deal that would have amounted to close to 2 billion Dollars in revenue over six years. The deal did not work out and led to Embracer laying off its employees as well as closing down studios. The confirmation by CEO Lars Wingerfors was made recently which announced that 900 employees in the company had to be laid off.
Fans are naturally very confused and are providing their own insights on the matter.
hopefully after this cleanup, Embracer have learned on what sells and release more quality games when they are done …not half-backed broken shit.
— Alexander Ahjolinna (@Ahjolinna) November 20, 2023
as doing another Saints Row remake type of games will not be smart.
Some think that Sony should have swooped in and bought some of the franchise rights.
Sony should bought Tomb Raider & Deus Ex … What a wasted opportunity …
— DrUckmann (@Dr_Uckmann) November 20, 2023
Among Embracer’s acquisition spree which was heavily criticized by video game fans. It has been an unfortunate year. studios like Volition, that developed Saints Row, were closed down. Ten percent of the workforce from Crystal Dynamics also had to depart. Studios like Campfire Cabal and Beamdog are also confirmed to be shutting down. Worse still, as per rumors Embracer might not stop just here. The company stated that its ongoing processes “will lead to further headcount reductions“.
Embracer Group’s COO, Egil Strunke also confirmed his departure on LinkedIn. Strunke has since started his venture in the gaming industry by starting his own company, Strunke Games. Strunke had been a part of Embracer Group for eight years. Amidst all of this chaos that is unfolding at the Swedish Conglomerate, STAR Wars KOTOR Remake was also reported to be shelved by the Publisher.
Embracer’s CEO, Lars Wingerfors refused to make any comment on STAR Wars KOTOR Remake’s situation. Naturally, fans are worried about the successful and celebrated franchises mentioned above which will most likely be affected by all this. It is already confirmed that the company is working on the Untitled Tomb Raider game.
Recent releases by the studio include Remnant II, Dead Island 2, and Payday 3. All three of these titles have reportedly sold well. In the earnings report linked above, Embracer also reported a net sales increase of 13 percent.
Huge companies and conglomerates acquiring IPs for expansion purposes is not an uncommon phenomenon in the video game industry. Recently, Microsoft acquired Activision for 68.7 billion dollars. Embracer’s case is no different. While the conglomerates certainly benefit from these in terms of revenue, employees at the company have to suffer a worse fate and are sometimes laid off as part of a restructuring.
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