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Embracer Group currently has 200+ games in development

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Games industry titan Embracer Group, which has spent the last several years acquiring video game studios including THQ Nordic, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Gearbox Entertainment, reportedly has 224 games in active development across its studio portfolio. The wild statistic was revealed in the company’s latest financial report, which also detailed a massive 128% rise in net sales, compared to the last financial year – to SEK 11.6 billion (AU $1.6 billion).

Embracer Group’s investments in tabletop game companies appear to have driven the largest segment of growth, earning it SEK 4.1 billion (AU $570 million). Given Asmodee, one of the most popular board game publishers, is now an Embracer-owned company, this success is no surprise.

PC and console game sales also contributed to this growth, with Embracer noting a 64% year-on-year increase in sales, to 3.6 billion SEK (AU $501 million).

That total is likely to grow in the next financial year, given recent investments made by Embracer Group. In 2022, the company purchased a number of new development studios, all of which currently have active projects in the works. During an earnings presentation, Lars Wingefors reportedly confirmed Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal are set to launch five triple-A games between them, by March 2028.

In addition, the company’s recent financial report confirmed hefty plans for the newly-purchased Lord of the Rings franchise.

According to Embracer, there are now five games based on this mythology in the works, with all of these expected to launch by the end of March 2024. These games include The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Return to Moria, and Heroes of Middle-earth, and the fourth is assumed to be the game in the works at Weta Workshop. A fifth game is currently a mystery.

Including these games, Embracer Group reportedly has a whopping 58 unannounced games to be released in the FY23-24 period, as well as an additional 31 unannounced games to be launched by FY 27-28.

That accounts for over 200 announced and unannounced projects, all being distributed by Embracer Group, through its many studios and publishers. While this also means the group has provided significant investments to its many companies, it’s clear these are swiftly paying off.

Several other game companies, including Nintendo, have reported losses for this financial quarter due to tough economic circumstances, and a need to ‘tighten the belt’. Embracer Group, in stark contrast, appears to be thriving due to the diversity of its investments. Given the bold plans in the works, the company’s net sales are likely to continue on an upward trajectory for the foreseeable future.

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Tsaki

Member
Talk about Shovelware: The Publisher. Hopefully the new Tomb Raider game will be good. I liked the first two of the reboot trilogy (haven't played Shadow yet), and having Amazon behind them budget won't be a problem.
 
All of those studios and many games released so far but the quality is seriously lacking. One of those groups that just churns out shovelware (to my tastes).

Even from an investment point of view they are weird and definitely too unwieldy for acquisition.
 
and not one of those new 31 AAAs will be a 90+ Metacritic game
While I don't like the direction Metro took with Exodus, the successor might hit 90.

So 4A and also Bugbear, Piranha, Flying Wild Hog, Milestone, Tripwire, Gearbox, Volition, Chrystal Eidos should all be able to do 90+ games if they really try, don't produce shit no one asked for and get the required time. And if not, a couple of 80+ or lower games with some jank and edges is fine too. I liked Shadow Warrior 3 a lot, and Ride is basically GT for bikes. Weirdly I have a hard time associating any game with Embracer since the studios are placed under several publisher labels, but everytime I look at their IP list it's actually huge and here and there quite high quality. Especially the later acquisitions of Gearbox and Eidos should signal that they want to be one of the big boys going forward, which needs all their studios to step up their game. I am looking forward to their evolution. (Same with Tencent, which is also a group I can't link to any game and is just under the radar despite being in the acquistion news all the time)
 
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Rykan

Member
Why? Borderlands 3 was nowhere near + 90MC

The series has grown stale

I trust Eidos Montreal to deliver. The rest is just meh.
Well i actually just glanced over the MC score and I noticed the PS5 version has a 91 MC score so I went with that, not realizing that has only 5 reviews lol.

With that said, Borderlands 2 was very beloved. If they can actually push the formula to the next level, they can reach those scores again. There's still a lot of untapped potential in the concept.


Also hire different writers.
 
I get what Embracer is doing, they buy a bunch of studios they can't really control, and can't handhold in such large number, they expect a 4th of these games to make up for the rest flopping or not meeting expectations to keep the business going because of how much IP potential they own.

Problem is that they have to front the bill for the development hurdles, delays, or cancellations, and for big flops, or games that do well but don't make back the ROI, they also take a hit.

200 games in development would actually cause stock to go down and wouldn't be seen as a hype announcement under normal circumstances if a company like EA were to do the same thing.

Embracer is going to end up having to cut studios, restructure, layoff staff, and streamline. The high quantity brute force strategy doesn't work in the gaming industry.
 

Jinzo Prime

Member
I'm still trying to figure out why every AA developer in Europe decided to join Embracer. What kind of deal did Lars offer them?
 
Whenever a necro happens, especially one like this with a 3 month timeframe, the post should be sent for moderator approval and should be pending to be considered whether it's adding any useful information to the thread topic in context.
 
Please God Almighty Christ in Heaven of my LORD give me a new Brother's in Arms game. I will suck you off Gearbox. I want Battle of the Bulge with Matt Baker!
 
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