Embracer Says Restructure Is Over, and They’re Not Going to Acquire New Companies for Now

After Saber Interactive was sold to a new company founded by CEO Matthew Karch and Gearbox Software was acquired by Take-Two, the Embracer Group conducted an investors call to officially announce the completion of its restructuring program.

As a reminder, the beginning of this event can be traced back to a $2 billion licensing deal (rumored to be with the Savvy Games Group) that fell through unexpectedly. This caused a significant drop in the Embracer Group stock and led to the company implementing a restructuring program, resulting in the closure of several studios (most notably Volition), numerous job cuts, and the aforementioned sales.

After announcing the Gearbox deal in an investors call, CEO Lars Wingefors declared the conclusion of the restructuring program and stated that there would be no further sales of internal assets.

We are concluding the restructuring program by the end of March, which includes the Gearbox restructuring process. We have been receiving inquiries from companies interested in acquiring specific assets within the group, although not on a daily basis, but rather weekly. I have made it clear that these assets are not for sale as they hold significant value for the group and its shareholders in the future.

Despite this, Wingefors clarified that Embracer has no plans of reverting back to its previous practice of buying companies. He also mentioned that it’s not an appropriate time to discuss this matter (which some may view positively, considering the company’s evident overextension in the past).

I believe it is premature to discuss reviving the M&A engines, as I am currently focused on pursuing additional mergers and acquisitions deals.

The main priority at Embracer remains solely on creating improved games in the future.

Currently, our main priority is to carefully evaluate the future of the group as we enter the final stages of decision-making. We are focusing on establishing and organizing our group effectively, utilizing our assets and optimizing their collaboration. Our main goal is to enhance profitability and generate more cashflow by improving our product offerings and game development strategies.

According to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the restructure at Embracer is now complete, but it is still too early for them to begin acquiring new studios again.