Embracer Group has announced today that they (or their direct subsidiary companies) have acquired a bunch more developers and publishers and so the concerning consolidation continues.
For those that don't know Embracer Group already own the likes of THQ Nordic GmbH, Koch Media GmbH/Deep Silver, Coffee Stain AB, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive, DECA Games, Gearbox Entertainment and Easybrain. It goes further since there's also over 60 game studios owned all together with the likes of Aspyr Media, Volition, Warhorse, Flying Wild Hog, 4A Games, New World Interactive and the list just goes on.
Today they've grown even fatter with:
- Crazy Labs
- Ghost Ship Games
- Easy Trigger
- Force Field
- DigixArt
- Slipgate Ironworks
- 3D Realms
- Grimfrost
So they really do now have a massive world-wide presence and no doubt there will be more to come. That's a huge amount of publishing power for one company to have.
From the press release:
“I am excited to welcome more than 500 great talents across a wide range of well established businesses that further diversify and strengthen the group across the world from day one. Brick by brick we continue to improve our operating groups and consequently Embracer as a whole. We still have a strong balance sheet with a sizable net cash position to support further M&A going forward. We continue to have many ongoing discussions with entrepreneurs, creators and companies to join the family, including large or transformative companies that would create new operating groups. I’m looking forward to continue growing the Embracer Group both organically and in-organically the decades to come.” says Lars Wingefors, co-founder and Group CEO of Embracer.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteThe Group has 69 internal game development studios
Quoting: kuhpunktEmbrace, extend, extinguish?There's bound to be an Extender Group looming in the background, biding their time to acquire Embracer, and finally an Extinguisher Group that snags the whole bunch just before they declare bankruptcy and go down in flames. (No, wait...)
Anyway, I'm sure it's all a big conspiracy.
Quoteand so the concerning consolidation continuesI'm fairly relaxed about Embracer doing this. Their historical MO has been to scoop up dead or struggling developers and give them a chance to keep going - a bit of money, a bit of security - but otherwise largely leaving them alone. That seems like a better thing to do than to money hat already successful developers and use them as a competitive cudgel (Microsoft) or destroy them (EA).
Quoting: kuhpunktEmbrace, extend, extinguish?
It's a publicly traded company as of yet, 61% of the share votes are held up by two owners, the founder Lars Wingefors controls 48% of the votes and S3D Media Inc controls 13% of the votes, the rest 39% is held by mostly pension funds.
They are also profitable and all except one subsidiary (Deep Silver) increased turnover this year so extinguish would be foolish on their part at this time. Before this recent acquisition they employed 5115 game devs, that quite a bunch :)
Last edited by F.Ultra on 5 August 2021 at 11:17 am UTC
Quoting: dpanterFrom their website:
QuoteThe Group has 69 internal game development studios
Nice
On the other that name gives me heavy 'The HappyFunFun Company! - An OCP & Wayland-Yutani collaboration' vibes.
Quoting: CatKillerQuoteand so the concerning consolidation continuesI'm fairly relaxed about Embracer doing this. Their historical MO has been to scoop up dead or struggling developers and give them a chance to keep going - a bit of money, a bit of security - but otherwise largely leaving them alone. That seems like a better thing to do than to money hat already successful developers and use them as a competitive cudgel (Microsoft) or destroy them (EA).
This, but sadly they will reach a size that MS or EA gets interested in them:(
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