It’s been a busy year for Embracer Group, as after they went on a buying spree that started in 2021, the mega company has since announced a restructuring that has led to countless layoffs and game cancellations, and a voice actor for Deus Ex speaks out.
Embracer Group has been a target of backlash recently. The company went on a massive buying spree that started in 2021 and hit its stride in 2022, only to be followed by an intense wave of layoffs that CEO Lars Wingefors referred to as “important steps for the future.”
Today, a blistering report from VGC has claimed that not only have layoffs happened and studios have been closed, but 29 titles have been subsequently cancelled as a result of the buying-selling-layoffs-restructure spiral Embracer finds itself flushed into. Since the restructuring announcement, game studios like Volition and Radical Design have shuttered while Gearbox is up for sale. Gearbox, specifically, was only purchased by Embracer back in February 2021.
During this time, Embracer has effectively cut 8% of its workforce, which is nearly 1400 layoffs in total in six months. According to Google Finance, the stock price for Embracer has fallen since September 2023, with a .3% decrease overall, with sporadic spikes and falls since. It has been proven that mass layoffs have a caustic effect on common stock prices, and by just taking a look at the effect the 1,900 layoffs from Activision Blizzard had on Microsoft’s stock since January 25, it has had an overall gain of 4%, but it has had huge gains and fall offs.
Mass layoffs cause game cancellations, like the unannounced 29 titles that have been brought to the axe confirmed by VGC. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said the company is entering the “final stretch” of its restructuring, stating, “As part of the restructuring program, Embracer still has a few larger structured divestment processes ongoing that could strengthen our balance sheet and further reduce capex,” so more layoffs and cancellations could come sooner rather than later.
On top of the game cancellations and over a thousand layoffs, Eidos Montreal (a developer purchased by Embracer Group back in May 2022) has allegedly told voice actor Elias Toufexis — the voice behind the sunglasses of protagonist Adam Jensen in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided — to not talk about the character. In an interview with PCGamesN, Toufexis says, “I remember I heard from Eidos in 2020 when they called me to ask me to stop talking about Adam Jensen in interviews and podcasts because they wanted people to focus on other things from the studio, which really shows how popular Jensen is, or was anyway.”
Outside of that mention, though, Toufexis says everything he heard regarding the future of the franchise has been “unofficial.” Toufexis also mentions the state of the video game industry as being at a bleak point, suggesting, “In a world where full movies are being shelved for tax reasons and TV shows are cancelled halfway through their stories, what did we expect from the videogame world?” with reasoning for project cancellations being based around bottom-line profitability, stating “It’s like the game studios took a look at the ‘bottom line speaks loudest’ mentality of other forms of entertainment and said to themselves ‘wait, why aren’t we doing that?’”
UPDATE Feb 16: Embracer Financial Report Released & Other Studios May Be Up For Sale
The Embracer financial report has been released, and in it, CEO Lars Wingefors alludes to the idea that other studios under the Group’s umbrella may also be up for sale. Wingefors writes “We are tracking well towards the capex and opex targets set out in the restructuring program announced in June 2023, as we approach the final stretch of the program, which is focused on both possible divestments, and consolidation” which could mean aside from a potential Gearbox sale mentioned yesterday, other studios in the Embracer Group’s roster, such as Eidos Montreal, can also be up for “divestment”.
However the future looks, it seems Embracer will deploy even MORE layoffs in the coming months. Fans can read the entire interview with Elias Toufexis here for more information.
