Embracer Reduced Workforce by 1,800 Employees Last Year

Sure, let’s dive into this. So, here’s this whole saga I stumbled upon about Embracer Group. They lost over 1,800 folks last year. Yeah, that’s a lot, right? Apparently, it was 1,857 down from the year before or something. I swear, numbers like this make my head spin.

Anyway—or wait, was it Game Developer who saw this first? Ah, whoever caught it first, doesn’t matter now. So, the deal is, they had already lost around 1,400 workers the year before. And not all these people were laid off. I guess they just kinda… left or something? Embracer sold off studios like Gearbox and, um, Saber Interactive. No clue why those stood out to me. Just did.

Oh, and this might be just the last bit of the “restructuring” phase. Sounds fancy, but isn’t it just a way to say they’re figuring stuff out after that big investment fell through? Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Group was involved or something like that. I’m no financial whiz, so don’t quote me on those details.

They’re also splitting into three companies now—publicly traded, even. CEO change is happening too, with this Lars guy stepping down and some Phil Rogers from Square Enix taking over. Which makes me think, there’s probably a ton of office drama they’re not showing us. But hey, who doesn’t love a bit of exec shake-up?

Lars wrote this letter. It’s supposed to be all hopeful or whatnot, talking about teamwork and experiences for gamers. Yada yada—we’ve heard it all before. Yeah, okay, I’m being a bit cynical, but really, it’s a lot of corporate speak. But I do get this part about him shifting roles, aiming for strategic growth and keeping the company alive and kicking. Seems like he’s optimistic. Or maybe just saying what shareholders wanna hear. Who knows.

Oh, and something about being excited for the future. I mean, I kinda hope it’s true, ’cause there’s a heck of a lot of people relying on these game dev jobs. But, well, future-shmuture, right? Just hoping it works out somehow.