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Publisher Embracer Group has announced a restructuring effort that will see staff laid off and games cancelled, but the new Tomb Raider game is entirely unaffected.
Earlier today on June 13, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors penned an open letter announcing redundancies and project cancellations at Embracer-owned studios. "During the past years, Embracer invested significantly both in acquisitions and into a strategy of accelerated organic growth," Wingefors wrote.
"We have acquired some of the world’s leading entertainment IP and we have invested into one of the largest pipelines of games across the industry," Wingefors outlined of Embracer's mass acquisitions over the past year or so, including The Lord of the Rings license.
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"The program presented today will transform us from our current heavy-investment-mode to a highly cash-flow generative business this year," Wingefors wrote, adding "Embracer currently engages close to 17,000 people and while that number will be lower by the end of the year, it is too early to give an exact forecast on this."
Embracer will also close studios where needed, and outright cancel projects in development, although Wingefors noted that the games affected will almost certainly be unannounced projects. "We will reduce third party publishing and put greater focus on internal IP and increase external funding of large-budget games," Wingefors continued.
Shortly after the letter by Wingefors was published, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics moved to reassure fans on Twitter with the message below. It appears the studio has been entirely unaffected by the layoffs and cancellations from their parent company, with their development efforts on Perfect Dark and the new Tomb Raider game continuing.
As for the future of Embracer Group, Wingefors concluded that the company is still set to have a "solid year with many amazing releases" to come. These include Remnant 2, Alone in the Dark, Payday 3, Homeworld 3, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and a litany of other less high-profile releases.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.
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