Embracer says gutting its business has created 'strong foundation for future value creation'Embracer says gutting its business has created 'strong foundation for future value creation'

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors says the business is showing "reassuring" signs following a brutal restructuring effort that saw the company conduct mass layoffs, shutter multiple studios, and cancel a huge number of projects before splitting into three separate entities.

As noted in the company's fiscal report for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, net sales declined by 3 percent year-on-year to SEK 7.4 billion ($683.2 million).

That was largely the result of a 23 percent downturn in net sales within the PC/Console Games segment, which comes after Embracer divested major subsidiaries Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment–both of which are still included in comparison figures.

Despite those respective dips, Embracer said organic growth amounted to 7 percent in Q3 thanks to "several successful releases" including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (developed by internal studio Warhorse).

The Swedish conglomerate said the sequel is approaching 2 million sales and delivered an "especially strong performance" on Steam with over 250,000 peak concurrent players.

It explained the title has "significantly outperformed" expectations and believes it will continue to generate substantial revenue for years to come. Embracer feels its PC/Console Games segment is proving resilient in the face of "limited new releases."

"In the PC/Console Games segment, organic growth amounted to -1 percent with limited new releases in the quarter, as well as in the preceding quarters. Adjusted EBIT increased by 17 percent YoY in Q3," reads the fiscal report.

"The Adjusted EBIT margin improved to 21 percent, driven by strong execution across many of the key businesses. The quarterly performance was supported by profitable external development projects, a few subscription deals, primarily related to the Goat Simulator franchise and Dead Island 2, as well as a strong holiday catalog performance for many of our games."

Embracer claims its project slate is 'one of the most well invested in the industry'

Embracer also expressed confidence in its Mobile Games segment, which it believes will enter "growth mode" during the next fiscal year–meaning higher user acquisition-to-sales and a positive ROI.

"In the Mobile Games segment, organic growth improved significantly to 3 percent YoY from -7 percent in the preceding quarter. The Adjusted EBIT margin was clearly lower YoY at around 24 percent, driven by higher user acquisition costs, and with a tough comparison from last year’s record-high profitability," continues the report.

"DECA Games, which includes CrazyLabs, returned to a high single-digit organic growth, while divested mobile assets showed slightly negative growth. CrazyLabs saw an improved performance, as it took over the publishing rights for Bus Frenzy–Traffic Jam, which has scaled to become another successful hybrid casual game alongside Alien Invasion."

Looking ahead, Embracer currently has 10 triple-A titles in development for console and PC platforms, two of which are slated to release by the end of the next fiscal year. It doesn't, however, expect to release any "notable" PC/Console projects during Q1 FY25/26.

The company also feels it has an "exciting" slate of mid-sized releases in the works, including projects such as Gothic 1 Remake, Reanimal, Fellowship, Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core, Titan Quest II, and more.

Those projects are being worked on by 7,873 employees across 75 internal studios. That's a notable decline on the headcount shared in Q3 last year, when Embracer confirmed it had 12,695 workers.

"We are excited about our future and our current games pipeline which we believe is one of the most well invested in the industry. We currently have more than 5,000 game developers working on our pipeline of upcoming games," continues the report, appriasing Embracer's future prospects.

"Looking into the upcoming three financial years, FY 2025/26, FY 2026/27 and FY 2027/28, we currently have 10 AAA games under development, of which eight are from internal studios and two from external studios. This number does not include the releases in the current quarter, or any projects financed by third parties. However, we want to be clear that there is room to provide more time for development if deemed necessary to optimize both the quality and overall ROI, as we did for both Dead Island 2 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II."