After the sale of Borderlands developer Gearbox to Take-Two in a deal price $460 million, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors held an buyers name to discuss the divestment.
Within the name, Wingefors confirmed that the sale of Gearbox was the ultimate piece within the firm’s ‘restructuring plan’ which resulted in over 1,300 job cuts and the cancellation of over 25 video games.
“We’re ending the restructuring programme now, finish of March, and the Gearbox restructuring course of has been a part of that programme,” Wingefors mentioned (thanks, RPS). He revealed that property divested from Embracer had “damaging cashflow” and the collective would now be “cashflow generative” following the separation of these property.
Shockingly, one investor requested Wingefors if Embracer was prepared to start shopping for once more, to which the CEO responded “I believe it’s approach too early to start out speaking about restarting the [mergers and acquisitions] engines once more.”
He went on to make clear the present targets of the conglomerate, saying “We’re within the late phases of the consideration into the way forward for the group, and that’s our highest focus and precedence – how we arrange ourselves and construction ourselves, and utilise our property now we have throughout the group, and have them work collectively, and the way we leverage them higher working collectively, utilising completely different features.”
“I believe that’s our focus proper now, to extend profitability and cashflow technology, by merely making higher merchandise and video games,” he completed. Embracer Group hasn’t seen plenty of current success and has shuttered a number of of the studios it acquired, akin to Volition, creator of the Saints Row collection and Free Radical, best-known for Timesplitters.
Moreover, writer Saber Interactive was spun off in a $500 million deal that included 4A Video games (Metro), Zen Studios and 3D Realms.
Wingefors’ reply is heartening, as Embracer Group’s sample of mass acquisition and subsequent closure or divestment isn’t a destiny you’d want on any studio.
Embracer Group at the moment owns over 100 studios worldwide, together with Flying Wild Hog, Dambuster Studios, Warhorse, Ghost Ship Video games, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Aspyr, Beamdog and Tripwire Interactive.
