Debt and restructuring (2022–present)
Savvy Gaming Group (later Savvy Games Group), a company wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, invested about US$1 billion into Embracer Group in June 2022, gaining an 8.1% stake. Embracer Group transitioned from Nasdaq First North to Nasdaq Stockholm on 22 December 2022. In May 2023, the company announced that a US$2 billion investment deal, which had been verbally agreed on in October 2022, had unexpectedly failed to materialise as the investing partner walked away from the deal after protracted negotiations. Shortly following the announcement, the company's shares fell by 40%. According to Axios, this partner was Savvy Games Group. Matt Karch, the CEO of Saber Interactive, said that the $2 billion deal had initially began for additional funds from investment towards new games in the Turok and Jurassic Park series, but more options were added in to cover development efforts across the Embracer group, and that the deal had become too large as a single monolithic approach for the Savvy Gaming Group, leading to the deal falling through.[9]
Embracer Group consequently announced in June 2023 that it would immediately begin implementing a large-scale restructuring programme focused on cost reduction, comprising layoffs, studio closures and divestments, and project cancellations until March 2024. The company closed the Gearbox studios Volition in August and Free Radical Design in December. Other studios were subject to layoffs, including the THQ Nordic studio Campfire Cabal, which was effectively shut down according to Bruno-Christian Belibou.
By November 2023, Embracer Group had laid off 904 employees, roughly 5% of its workforce, and cancelled at least fifteen projects. As such, the company had reduced its debt from US$2 billion to US$1.5 billion, though warned that further layoffs and studio closures were likely. In February 2024, it was reported that Embracer Group was finalising the sales of Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment. The sale of Saber Interactive was announced in March 2024. Beacon Interactive, a company owned by Saber Interactive's co-founder Matthew Karch, bought Saber Interactive for US$247 million alongside its satellite studios and the subsidiaries 3D Realms, Bytex, Digic Pictures, Fractured Byte, Mad Head Games, New World Interactive, Nimble Giant Entertainment, Sandbox Strategies, Slipgate Ironworks, SmartPhone Labs, and Stuntworks. 34BigThings, 4A Games, Aspyr, Beamdog, Demiurge Studios, Shiver Entertainment, Snapshot Games, Tripwire Interactive, Tuxedo Labs, and Zen Studios remained with Embracer Group, to be integrated with other operative groups, although Beacon Interactive received an option to acquire 4A Games and Zen Studios in the future, but this option was cancelled on September 13, 2024. The divestiture also comprised 2,950 employees (21% of Embracer Group's workforce), including all staff in Russia. According to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg News, Beacon Interactive plans to exercise its option for a combined purchase price of US$500 million.
In March 2024, Take-Two Interactive acquired Gearbox Entertainment, which was moved under the 2K label. After the sale closed, Gearbox Entertainment retained Gearbox Software, Gearbox Publishing, Gearbox Studio Montreal, Gearbox Studio Quebec, Gearbox Properties and the Borderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms and Duke Nukem franchises, while Embracer Group retained Gearbox Publishing San Francisco (including Gearbox Shanghai), which was renamed Arc Games; Cryptic Studios; Lost Boys Interactive; and Captured Dimensions alongside several titles. Retained companies were integrated into other parts of Embracer Group.[10]
With the sale of Gearbox, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors stated that the company restructuring was complete, and had no short-term plans to restart mergers or acquisitions, instead focusing on "simply making better products and games" to improve cash flow.[11] From June 2023 to May 2024, the restructuring had led to the loss of 4532 employees, the closure of 44 studios, and cancellation of 80 in-development projects,[12] including a new Deus Ex,[13] TimeSplitters[14] and Red Faction games.[15] Despite these steps, the company still faced $1.5 billion in debt.[16]
In April 2024, Embracer Group announced that it would split up into three separate publicly traded companies on the Swedish stock market within the next two years.[17][18][19] "Fellowship Entertainment" (under the working name "Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends"), the legal successor to Embracer Group, will be used for the commercial rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's work The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as intellectual properties such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Metro, Dead Island, Killing Floor, Darksiders, Remnant and Tomb Raider, amongst more than 300 other game IPs, and consist of companies under the THQ Nordic, Plaion, CDE Entertainment, DECA Games, Dark Horse, and the Freemode umbrella, and other companies such as 4A Games and Aspyr.[1] The Asmodee Group will be the publisher of board and card games from Asmodee and its studios, which came into effect on 7 February 2025.[20] "Coffee Stain Group" (under the working name "Coffee Stain & Friends") will focused on community driven experiences, and will include companies under the Coffee Stain group, Ghost Ship and Tuxedo Labs as well as certain studios from Amplifier Game Invest, all based in Scandinavia, which came into effect on 11 December 2025.
In May 2024, Nintendo announced their acquisition of Shiver Entertainment from Embracer, subject to closing conditions.[21][22] In June 2024, Embracer closed Alone in the Dark (2024) developer Pieces Interactive following the game's disappointing performance.[23] In July, it was reported that Piranha Bytes was quietly shuttered at the end of June.[24]
In November 2024, Embracer Group said that they had reduced their number of employees from 15,701 to 10,450.[25] That same month, they announced that they would divest Easybrain to Miniclip for a consideration of $1.2 billion, with the transaction close on January 22, 2025.[26] By the end of 2024, Embracer had reduced their number of employees to 7,873.[27]
In May 2025, Embracer Group announced that Amplifier Game Invest would be dissolved, "integrating successful and high-potential studios, including Tarsier Studios, into other operative groups within Embracer to support their continued growth, while underperforming games and studios with negative cash flow have been closed or divested".[28]
In June 2025, Embracer Group announced that CEO Lars Wingefors would resign from its position and would be replaced by Phil Rogers, formerly of Eidos Interactive and Square Enix, effective in August 2025. Rogers also serves as the CEO of both Plaion and Crystal Dynamics - Eidos at the time of the transition, and previously held the position as deputy CEO. Wingefors kept his board member position and later transitioned as the group's chairman.[29][30]
