Embracer said in their end-of-year financial blast today that across January to March, they “engaged with more than 150 companies about joining the Group”. That could just be saying a friendly hello and winking while waving a giant roll of cash, mind. In terms of deals actually in some state of progress, they say they are currently “in more than 20 late-stage talks” and have several signed letters of intent. They’re just not looking at smaller studios to hoover up either. They say they’ve winked and flashed the cash at some “larger companies that could form additional operating groups”. Embracer’s corporate structure is split between eight operating groups who bundle up smaller studios beneath them and have relative autonomy. To give you a sense of scale, this tier of the company includes Deep Silver, THQ Nordic, Gearbox, and Coffee Stain. The consolidation of the games industry continues apace. Around the world, Embracer Group currently have 68 development studios and over 7000 workers. In recent years they’ve scooped up folks including Piranha Bytes, Gunfire Games, Aspyr, Warhorse Studios, Flying Wild Hog, Saber Interactive, 4A Games, New World Interactive, and Zen Studios. They’re approaching the scale of Electronic Arts, though with more smaller studios and less of that mega-budget fanciness. Today, Embracer also announced that they’re forming a new version of Free Radical, the defunct English studio behind TimeSplitters. With some of the original co-founders onboard, they’re to make a new game in the time-travelling shooter series.
