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Embracer Group is raising more than $500 million for future acquisitions
- Thread starter DarkDetective
- Start date
OP
OP
I bet Farm 51 is going to be acquired by Embracer Group (or Microsoft).
https://respawnfirst.com/the-farm-51-prepares-for-new-investor-microsoft/
https://respawnfirst.com/the-farm-51-prepares-for-new-investor-microsoft/
That is never going to happen, you would think so in terms of gamepass, but there are a lot more appealing targets for MS.
A polish studio has been rumored for MS for a long time so it is possible, but it could be someone else, that and a japanese studio are certainties. Asobo, Dontnod and the studio behind as dusk falls wouldnt surprise me and of course some others we have no idea about...
I know you are being facetious and I dig it, but knowing how finance illiterate ERA is I just wanted to point out that tencent has a market cap of > $600bn so embracer can use all their dry powder and still won't be able to acquire them
They need to spend their cheeky half a bill on studios, and then get acquired themselves by Microsoft.
Desperados 3, Wasteland 3, Spongebob Rehydrated (which we know surpassed 1 mio. units sold within 6 weeks), Destroy All Humans and Darksiders Genesis (which both "exceeded expectations" 2-3 weeks after release), Hunt: Showdown, Deep Rock Galactic, Iron Harvest, Huntdown...I'm seeing plenty of games on that 2020 portfolio which had a decent amount of buzz this year.
There's a lot of possibilities. But here are some general thoughts:
The most likely candidates are, as always:
[insert team of 10 people you've literally never heard of before in your life]
and
[surprisingly large team of people you've literally never heard of before in your life]
- Larian probably isn't for sale immediately, and if it is, I'd more expect them to either go for a partial ownership stake (via Tencent or similar) or a sale to Wizards of the Coast (who is also expanding their gaming portfolio). But Embracer is not impossible. Embracer would absolutely love to have them if they can afford them and they're for sale.
- Owlcat is a Russian studio, which would scare off some people but probably not Embracer, who already has a lot of staff there as part of the Saber Interactive acquisition. If purchased, it may well be with the intent of getting shuffled under Saber.
- Bloober Team was reportedly having acquisition talks. There is a 100% chance that Embracer was one of the interested parties at some stage, even if they don't end up being the final buyer.
- Techland is a Polish team with a couple of successful games under their belt and is also a wierdo micropublisher. It kind of feels like one of the companies they'd go for, there have already been several micropublishers merged or snapped up by the Embracer Group - but at 300 people they might be a bit large if they have other people on the menu already.
- Teylon is yet another Polish team that occasionally publishes things in Japan for some reason whenever they're not busy developing extremely B grade games. I loved Terminator Resistance, but there's no denying this isn't a "prestigious" studio (the makers of RAMBO: THE GAME). I would have no surprise if they got grabbed at some point.
- French studios like Dontnod are not the easiest for foreign companies to acquire, but Embracer does have 2 studios in France already (small as they are). This would probably go under the Koch Media label with them if acquired. They're a moderately profitable 250 person two-studio company who has had a lot of publishers come and go. Focus Home Interactive, something of a rival of Embracer, might also be interested in their purchase, as would several other companies, so it would be competitive.
The most likely candidates are, as always:
[insert team of 10 people you've literally never heard of before in your life]
and
[surprisingly large team of people you've literally never heard of before in your life]
Wouldn't Square Enix Europe want to subsidise DontNod to continue the Life Is Strange series?
Yeah does sound like a media/weapons manufacturing company in Cyberpunk tbh.
We named it Embracer because we like to give hugs. :(
(Kidding, it's named for their desire to do corporate acquisitions.)
I have no idea who owns that IP, but there's plenty of people they've worked with - Focus Home Interactive, Microsoft, Square Enix have all published their games in the last 3 years.
2 wasn't the big hit compared to 1 SE wanted, and SE in general don't look to be in the business of acquiring anybody.
They are also partenering with Deck Nine from Before the Storm on something so they still have a narrative adventure incoming as well, and there's been a few people suggesting they might be handling LIS3 rather than Dontnod.
$648 million raised
OP
OP
End result:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...shares-to-raise-money-for-future-acquisitions
$648 million, of which $237 million by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...shares-to-raise-money-for-future-acquisitions
$648 million, of which $237 million by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Any studio that is currently collaborating with Focus Home or Big Ben is probably on the hit list, since that AA space is where THQN thrives
Embracer seems to be going for quantity over quality, which is good for keeping the AA space alive.
I was going to say that they only make stuff I don't care about, but apparently there's a Singstar clone with Queen songs. Hmmmmmmmmm.
CPP is nuts and they make tons of money so they likely see lots of money in gaming
What if they're planning to make an Embracer console or Embracer cloud gaming service with exclusive content?
OP
OP
Their strategy seems to be more try to be everywhere rather than make everyone come to you.
Those seem like reasonable guesses for sure, and probably the most high profile studios out of that cohort (aside from Asobo).
Asobo seems like they would be acquired by Microsoft if anyone, but you never know, maybe Embracer would try to swoop in.
But they don't need to be. Having 50 games that are mildly profitable is better than having 1 game being a major hit.
They keep making money, becoming more valuable (stonks) and it's a steady rise to the top. As long as they don't jump on the AAA game, which could lead to major bombas, they will be in a great situation. Low risk, low reward, steady and up.
Also, games selling 1+ million units is a good hit. That's like... 60 million per game? Even if they had 100 devs being paid 100k a year and developed games for 4 years they would still have 20 million profit. Sure, that's not how budgets work but their teams are also under 100 and making games in shorter times so math works out in the end haha.
Okay, whatever else, that isn't small team or forgotten franchise money.
Basically this. Most of their stuff seems to do well relative to the budget for it.
I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I guess they are trying to manage risks by having various subcompanies managing the studios acquired, but still there is a risk that key personnel of the acquired studios leaves (after an exclusivity period), so you would end up with having to close studios. Some of their investments have been amazing though (less than 50 million dollars for 4A Games, seems insanely cheap). Also it seems like the acquisition market is getting more and more heated so the competition between various suitors should press down on potential return on investment.
I've yet to see any press release by Embracer Group announcing layoffs ever since they acquired the remainder of THQ's intellectual properties and trademarks.
Before the whole 8chan AMA, they were known as the gaming company that took pride in not consolidating their number of staff.
Maybe i'm just overthinking it. Even before the 8chan AMA I was wondering how long they can keep going to acquiring stuff. I guess AA stuff selling solidly is enough. Again, not a business person at all.