Embracer Group COO Egil Strunke departs with "mixed feelings"

Embracer Group COO Egil Strunke has departed the Swedish conglomerate to kickstart his own company.

As spotted by VGC, the departure comes during a period of significant upheaval at Embracer. The company, which owns the likes of Gearbox Software and THQ Nordic, is pushing ahead with a sweeping restructuring program that has seen it sanction a huge number of layoffs, shutter studios including Saints Row developer Volition, and toss projects on the scrapheap.

Embracer had 224 games in development at the start of the year, but in June announced it would be pivoting away from its "heavy-investment mode" by cutting jobs to become a "highly cash-flow generative business."

Strunke briefly touched on those restructuring plans when announcing his departure in a post on Linkedin, but said he believes Embracer still has a "bright future."

Strunke's Embracer timeline

"My history with the group spans across two four-year stints, first 2011-14—the early foundational days with acquiring assets from Jowood and THQ and planting the seeds to what we then didn’t know would become Embracer Group," he wrote. "Then returning 2019 to a sizzling, acquisitional hotbed where new entrepreneurs and exciting studios were added quarter by quarter.

"Growing employees 14x to 16,500 and revenue 8x to circa 40 billion SEK in four years has been an amazing experience and adventure. Although the last year has been rough, in line with general market changes and industry consolidation, I am positive that Embracer will come out stronger and with a long, bright future ahead of them."

Strunke will now turn his attention to expanding his new company, Strunke Games, which he explained will allow him to "support and be involved in some of the most interesting gaming studios, companies and projects around the globe" as a consultant.