The boss of embattled video games publisher Embracer has reflected on a turbulent year for his company which has seen it shed thousands of jobs, shutter numerous development studios, and now – as of this week – ultimately split into three smaller parts.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said there was a “long list” of things he’d do differently, but that was “easy to look back in hindsight”.
“I’m sure I deserve a lot of criticism, but I don’t think my team or companies deserve all the criticism,” Wingefors said. “I could take a lot of that blame myself. But ultimately I need to believe in the mission we set out and that is still valid, and we are now enabling that by doing this [new three-part company] structure.”
Embracer embarked on its major company restructure following the collapse of a $2bn deal with the Saudi-backed Savvy Games Group. It was a deal which was expected to secure the company’s future – at least in the short term – but Wingefors admitted that Embracer’s rapid growth was fuelled by the peaks of video game market expansion during the Covid lockdown era.