Embattled publisher Embracer Group announced back in June that layoffs, cancellations and closures would be required in order to continue operations after apparently vastly overextending. Estimated, then, to employ 17,000 staff across dozens of studios, with ambitions to release some 234 games before March 2026; by September, 900 had been laid off, and that number is expected to rise.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Phil Rogers, interim chief strategy officer and CEO of the operating group that includes Crystal Dynamics and other Western studios, says that the company is making "good progress" in its efforts to right the ship.
Rogers said: "I think these sort of reporting dates are good times to stand up and sort of say, you know, how do we feel we're doing against it? We feel good. We feel like we're on track against the targets that we've set out. So we feel very positive about that."
In terms of the human cost, Rogers tells a different story and says, "There's a lot of it going around the industry at the moment of restructuring, but the downside, obviously, is the impact on people. It's something that Embracer really feels for. It's been an agonising process to see the sort of headcount [reduction], but we know it's a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. So overall, good progress, and we push on."
Rogers says he was never "a big fan of the 'fewer bigger, better' [approach]. Bigger games aren't always fun. I know how hard it is to make smaller games and to bring those entertainment values to bear from experience at Crystal [Dynamics] when we started working on digital spin-outs of Lara Croft."
We won't pretend to be business experts, but Roger's approach seems to be what got Embracer into trouble in the first place, going for a quantity-over-quality approach. Strategy games have taught us that, in some cases, quantity has a quality all its own, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Take 2023, for example; plenty of excellent games were overshadowed by ever-higher quality releases, leaving no time or space for anything less than excellent.
Do you think it sounds like Embracer is on the right track, or is this cycle set to continue? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz, via psu.com]
Comments 15
Will totally continue. They’ve learned nothing and having set those targets and only having chaos to show for it is not a good sign. This company is a sinking ship and I don’t see any world where it doesn’t require Lars to step down or companies to sell off. Speaking of which, they’re laying people off and closing studios instead of selling them off. This to me just sounds like mismanagement and isn’t something that’s going to get resolved by continuing the purge. Rogers is still there, so, yknow.
Embracer grew too quickly without a clear vision or plan for how to manage all these studios. Embracer group is made up of business people with no experience in the video game market and just saw a money making opportunity by harvesting up 'name' intellectual property in the hope of spinning a profit on name alone.
The layoffs will absolutely continue to happen as the human cost appears secondary, particularly with statements like those above:
'but we know it's a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. So overall, good progress, and we push on."
It's like they are saying we have to make a statement about it to show we care, but really we are only interested in our bottom line. Talking about the layoffs in the same paragraph as good progress is gross
There really embracing those people out the door
I said it before and I say it again: Embracer Group might as well change their name to the opposite of the word 'embracer'.
Or better yet, change their name to 'Going down' or something similiar because thats what EG are going through right now despite saying otherwise.
Spare a thought for those poor execs, I mean, they're really feeling it. Closing in those targets though, just a couple hundred more employees to sack and they might get there!
@Coolmusic "Releaser Group"? I like it, it certainly covers their stance on employees. Not so much their stance on games though.
Is there anything more intrinsically insincere than saying a company "feels" something?
234 games released before March 2026...I don't think you can get any more delusional than that.
If this is the right direction I'd hate to see what they think is the wrong direction. It stinks as there is some good talent that got gobbled up by Embracer. I fear for the future of Tomb Raider and Metro.
@Korgon The worst part is that they're going to be holding on to those IPs while at the same time destroying the studios that created or at least stewarded them, with the end result being that we are unlikely to see those IPs get continued in a positive way, if they're even going to get continued at all.
I've said it before, but the loss that Embracer Group have inflicted upon the gaming industry and community in such a short time, is almost immeasurable.
This absolutely should not have been allowed to happen! It’s disgraceful. Someone will come out of this a lot richer at the end.
Disgusting behaviour from a terrible company. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have a genuine gaming pedigree in developing games and systems that people love. They should be allowed to make acquisitions in the games industry.
Embracer, Tencent, Amazon, Meta, Google etc. don't deserve anyone's sympathy or empathy.
Kinda weird, isn't it?
We have a CEO of large businesses and they're paid lots because "they have the responsibility of the whole company" on their head. All the big business decisions go through this one person.
Yet, when those decisions are wrong and it costs the company, the CEO is not the first job on the chopping block... Neither are any of the senior leadership team.
In fact, they can even go on to take home bonuses.
I think it's premature to say it won't work.
They got some cool games coming such as Outcast 2, Gothic remake, space marine 2 between other such as a new kingdoms of amalur, tomb raider, legacy of kain, kotor remake.
There is a lot of potential here. They don't need to make games the level of a sony first party game. Not every games needs to be a blockbuster. It just has to be fun.
@__jamiie I feel like there is a narrative being spun here that misses perspective. Embracer had a strategy of acquisitions and lost a partner. They are laying off people to survive. They layed off 900 and 17k kept their jobs.
How do you feel about a company like Microsoft slashing 10k jobs this year? That is more than 10 times what Embracer did and MS has no lack of profitability.
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