Report: Embracer's era of self-sufficiency begins with the closure of Campfire Cabal

Danish studio Campfire Cabal has reportedly been shut down by parent company Embracer Group.

As spotted by IGN (via X user Timur222), former Campfire Cabal executive producer Bruno-Christian Belibou shared the news on Linkedin and said the studio was shuttered as a result of Embracer's ongoing restructuring efforts.

"Time to look for a new job, in June the decision was taken by Embracer to layoff every person in my studio as part of Embracer's restructuring process which was announced in the same month," wrote Belibou.

"While we have tried a lot of things to turn this around and find a new home for this team, time was our biggest enemy to do so."

Campfire was operating under the umbrella of THQ Nordic and was primarily focused on developing turn-based RPGs for PC. The company was led by Jonas Wæver, the original creator and lead designer on the Expeditions series.

The studio has been shut down just months after Embracer announced the collapse of a $2 billion partnership deal it claimed would have "set a new benchmark" for the games industry.

A few weeks after that deal fell through, Embracer announced it would be shuttering studios, cutting jobs, and terminating some ongoing development projects in a bid to become a "more focused, self-sufficient company."

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors indicated the layoffs would enable the conglomerate to move away from its current "heavy-investment-mode" and become a "highly cash-flow generative business."

"We need to better leverage our scale, the quality of our portfolio and our capabilities. Our commitment to our transmedia strategy remains intact," said Wingefors in June. "That strategy alone has great potential to deliver substantial value across the group over the coming years."

It marked a notable change in direction for the company, which has spent years spending huge sums as part of an M&A strategy that saw it acquire studios and publishers such as Crystal Dynamics, Gearbox, Deep Silver, and Eidos Montreal.

Game Developer has reached out to Embracer for more information on the closure.