Mass Layoffs Have Been “Agonizing” but “Necessary,” Embracer Exec Says

Even in a year where the news cycle has been as dominated by layoffs in the games industry as 2023 has been, the scale at which Embracer Group has made cutbacks where its staff is concerned has taken many by surprise. The company instituted a restructuring plan earlier in the year after it failed to close a $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, recently confirming that that had led to about 900 Embracer employees being laid off.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Embracer Group’s interim strategy officer Phil Rogers – who is also the CEO of CDE Entertainment, the label under which Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal operate – touched on the top of the company’s mass layoffs. Stating that Embracer Group is “on track” against internal targets for bringing down debt and reducing expenditure, Rogers called the layoffs an “agonizing” but “necessary” part of the process.

“There’s a lot of it going around the industry at the moment of restructuring, but the downside, obviously, is the impact on people,” Rogers said. “It’s something that really Embracer feels for.

“It’s been an agonising process to see the sort of headcount [reduction], but we know it’s a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. So overall, good progress and we push on.”

Embracer Group’s restructuring plans have had a significant impact on a number of its studios. Among other similar instances, Saints Row developer Volition has been shut down, TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design is reportedly on the verge of following suit, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has suffered layoffs, and Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment has been put up for sale.

Embracer has previously said that as part of its restructuring efforts, it will be closing a few more studios and cancelling more in-development projects in the coming months.