Saints Row studio Volition was the first developer shut down by Embracer Group in its ongoing restructuring exercise, but it won’t be the last. The company has warned of more closures in what is perhaps one of the most egregious cases of serial acquisitions in recent years, followed by months of layoffs.
Embracer Group now wants to downsize
In a recent annual general meeting, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors told stakeholders that the company will continue to restructure and downsize until it achieves its financial targets. Embracer has been bleeding cash due to a number of high-profile studio and IP acquisitions over the recent years — all while failing to attract financial partners.
“Preferably, we would like to find new opportunities for the employees, even if it’s outside of Embracer,” Wingefors said. “Sometimes it’ll be a divestment, or that we are working with partners to finance some projects, but ultimately, we are making decisions to either restructure or to downsize some teams, and there will be a few cases of closures.”
Wingefors said that he’s “confident” that Embracer will be able to deliver on its targets by the end of the fiscal year. Its most recent studio hit by layoffs is Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.
