Published , by Morgan Shaver
Published , by Morgan Shaver
In a piece by the Financial Times, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group, Lars Wingefors, reported plans of continued acquisitions like that of Gearbox back in 2021. According to Wingefors, there are plans to make a similar number of acquisitions to ones previously seen from Embracer, with 62 acquisitions having been made since the start of 2020 at a cost of $8.1 billion.
With these acquisitions, Embracer Group now boasts a whopping 115 internal game development studios in total, along with 10 operating groups which include the likes of companies such as the aforementioned Gearbox Entertainment Company and THQ Nordic.
As reported by the Financial Times, Wingefors will be looking “to expand into newer markets, including the burgeoning area of free-to-play games, as well as countries like the UK, the US, Poland, France, and China.”
It’s not just companies in the gaming space that Embracer Group has pursued either, with one of the most recent acquisitions being that of entertainment company Dark Horse Media. The Dark Horse acquisition was first announced back in December of 2021, with the transaction fulfilled as of March 2022 as noted in a press release on the official Dark Horse website.
Embracer Group is not only continuing to expand and grow with acquisitions like that of Dark Horse, it’s doing so at an impressive and undeniably aggressive rate. In its financial report for the third quarter of 2021, Embracer saw a 135 percent increase in net sales, a 70 percent rise in earnings, and a 16 percent increase in the organic growth of its games division.
Currently, Embracer Group has a market value of $9.9 billion according to the Financial Times. With that said, it’s worth nothing there have been a few critical responses to Wingefors’ strategy, with Jeffries gaming analyst Ken Rumph calling it “aggressively decentralized” in the Financial Times article.
For more on this, Embracer’s past acquisitions, and Embracer’s plans for the future, we recommend reading through the full report from the Financial Times.
After learning that Embracer Group will continue its strategy of ambitious acquisitions, we’re curious to hear your thoughts on the matter. What other companies can you see Embracer acquiring in the years ahead? Let us know in Chatty, and for more on the latest Embracer Group news, be sure to read up on how the company recently hinted at a possible Dead Island 2 release by March 2023.