Following the collapse of a "verbal agreement" reportedly worth $2 billion with the Saudi-funded Savvy Games, Embracer Group entered into a brutal nine-month restructuring programme that resulted in the loss of some 1,400 employees and the cancellation of dozens of unannounced games. CEO Lars Wingefors, whose actions were recently defended by Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch ("give Lars a break"), in a new interview, says: "As a leader and an owner, sometimes you need to take the blame."
That restructuring is reportedly complete, separating the company into three presumably less-risky entities. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the CEO used the opportunity to defend Embracers teams and their leaders: "It's been painful. But I still believe in what we do, in my teams, and in the vision we set out. I also believe the public markets, if we do it right, are a fantastic place to finance your business and tap into both investors and the debt market."
Wingefors says he has been dealing with many hits and criticism in Sweden and internationally. At the DICE Awards in February, Kinda Funny CEO Greg Miller joked from the stage that one thing people in the video game industry never want to hear is "The Embracer Group are here", before adding: "They've really f***ed up this place, haven't they?"
When asked how he deals with this kind of mainstream criticism, the CEO said: "As a leader and an owner, sometimes you need to take the blame, and you need to be humble about if you've made mistakes and if you could have done something different. I'm sure I deserve a lot of criticism, but I don't think my team or companies deserve all the criticism. I could take a lot of that blame myself. But ultimately, I need to believe in the mission we set out, which is still valid, and we are now enabling that by doing this [new] structure.”