Embracer wasn’t the only group ruling them all after a $2 billion deal fell through

The Embracer Group’s acquisitions may finally have come to an end. This week, the Swedish video game and media holding company, which has made countless headlines for buying everything from intellectual property rights to Lord of the rings To the studios in the back Tomb riderAnd ex godAnd Borderlandsannounced that it would be a “restructuring” in an effort to make itself “a leaner, stronger, more focused and self-sufficient company”.

that open letter Group CEO Lars Wingefors says this restructuring would include closing or selling studios, halting or pausing development on games, and cutting spending overall. Wingefors also wants the company to focus more on its internal IP and bring in more external funding for big budget games.

In recent years, Embracer has been on an amazing acquisition spree and has seen its balloon size to include 138 in-house game development studios as part of the company’s footprint spread across 40 countries. In addition to the companies listed above, Embracer has also acquired services world war z Developer Saber Interactivethe third largest publisher of comics in the United States Dark Horse ComicsAnd Board game publisher Asmodee. Axios quotes One report says Embracer spent $1 billion across 20 acquisitions last year.

“The program offered today will transform us from our current large investment position into a high cash flow generating business this year,” Wingefors wrote. subtext? The era of big spending is coming to an end. It’s time to make money from their investments.

While the CEO’s open letter vaguely refers to “the deteriorating economy and market reality” as the one responsible for the restructuring, you don’t have to look far for more concrete reasons. Just weeks ago Embracer announced that the “transformative” $2 one billion partnership Negotiation had failed. It also lowered its earnings forecast for next year from between $965 million and $1.3 billion to $655 to $840 million due to the game’s delay.

There’s also the state of the global economy in general, which has seen interest rates rise around the world after spending a decade near zero. It’s a moment some have referred to as “The end of the era of “free money”‘, as investors became less willing to throw money after more speculative investments. Embracer Group took its own A controversial $1 billion investment From the Saudi-backed Savvy Gaming Group.

Embracer’s CEO’s letter is light on details about which projects may be affected, or how many of its 17,000 employees could be laid off as a result of the restructuring. However, he notes that it will mainly affect unannounced projects with “low expected returns”, with “all significant releases announced” set to launch as planned. Remnant 2, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2, Payday 3, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged, Arizona Sunshine 2, Alone in the DarkAnd Homeworld 3 All are on this year’s Embracer release calendar.