” Negotiations took much longer than expected, given that we had already secured a verbal commitment in October 2022. The agreement would have included more than $2 billion in contractual development revenue over a six-year period and would have enabled catch-up payments for the costs of a series of big budget games commented Lars Wingefors. Between the cancellation of this partnership and the postponement of a number of headlines beyond the fiscal year, Embracer has therefore revised its objectives downwards. The group, which anticipated a profit before interest and taxes of at least 900 million euros, now expects a profit of between 608 and 782 million euros for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. That remains an objective. positive, certainly, but the shareholders do not really appreciate this kind of last minute surprise.
Embrace whoever you want
By dint of major acquisitions in various fields, including Plaion, Saber Interactive, Gearbox Software, Asmodee, Dark Horse, Eidos and Middle-earth Enterprises, Embracer today posts a massive turnover of 3.2 billion euros. euros, even if video games represent “only” 1.6 billion euros of the total. Embodied by Asmodee, board games are the second largest contributors with 1.1 billion euros. After years of rapid growth, however, Embracer seems determined to calm things down a bit. In addition to the cancellation of the major strategic partnership, Embracer is also seeing development delays for several important games as well as a low rate of profitability for most of the games. big outings. Of the 14 notable new releases in fiscal year 2022/23, only 4 titles broke even.
” It was a difficult year, marked by delays, weaker consumer demand and poor reception for some major releases “, recognizes Lars Wingefors, referring in particular to Saints Row, which we learn in passing that the budget exceeded 100 million dollars. Embracer therefore began to cut back by closing a few minor studios. The most notable closure, however, remains that of the newly acquired Square Enix Montreal, which had just been renamed Onoma.
That said, the group still has several major games to release by March 2024, including ” a number of notable unannounced titles which will be added to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Remnant 2 or Payday 3, if all goes well. To stay on the positive side, Dead Island 2 confirmed its success and exceeded 2 million sales, this after achieving the best launch in the history of the Plaion label, both in volume and in value. Plaion also gives Metro Exodus news, which we learn has accumulated 8.5 million copies sold, including 500,000 in the first quarter of 2023.
Embracer has 138 internal studios and employs 16,600 employees, including close to 10,000 developers.