Embracer Group currently has 221 games in development, the Swedish gaming giant disclosed on June 21, in addition to revealing how many of those titles are yet to be announced. This astonishing figure was shared mere days after Embracer Group announced plans to cancel multiple games and close some of its studios as part of a comprehensive restructuring.
The Karlstad-based company has been on a major shopping spree for several years prior to its newly confirmed corporate reshuffle, having spent over $8 billion on acquisitions in 2022 alone. A year earlier, Embracer Group merged with Gearbox Software, Grimfrost, Fractured Byte, and over half a dozen other companies. As of March 31, 2023, the conglomerate owns 12 operative groups spanning 138 internal studios with a total headcount of 16,601, according to its newly published sustainability report.
The same brief also reveals that the company currently has 221 games in the works, 165 of which are unannounced. That's a 47% increase compared to two years ago when Embracer Group had 150 games in development. Despite that major increase, it remains to be seen how many of Embracer's present projects actually make it to the market, not least because the aforementioned restructuring announcement explicitly mentioned game cancellations as one of the primary cost-cutting efforts that the company is now exploring on a per-project basis.
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors labeled the restructuring as a reaction to the slowing global economic growth which inhibited the gaming industry throughout 2022 and continues to do so this year. Nevertheless, Embracer Group doubled its record-high revenue during the past fiscal year to $3.24 billion, which makes it one of the 20 largest game publishers on the planet.
Following its newly concluded acquisition spree that saw Embracer Group acquire the IP rights to Lord of the Rings, Borderlands, Saints Row, Tomb Raider, and many other franchises, the company now owns a total of 896 IPs, its latest report reveals. And while its ongoing restructuring will inevitably shutter some projects and studios, the conglomerate says it's planning to stick with its highly decentralized corporate composition that provides its subsidiaries with both creative freedom and financial accountability alike.
Even though its aggressive reinvestment phase is only now coming to an end, Embracer Group is already enjoying skyrocketing profits; it ended 2022 with $240 million in the black, thus more than quadrupling its previous record from two years prior. As for the hundreds of games that it currently has in the works at Crystal Dynamics and its 11 other operating groups, at least some of those titles are likely to be on the horizon by now.
Source: Embracer Group