Embracer Group to close multiple studios and have many lay-offs

Many of us have just been laughing and poking fun at Embracer Group for acquiring an insane amount of game studios the last few years. This includes the Borderlands creators at Gearbox, the Tomb Raider team at Crystal Dynamics, Metro's 4A Games and many other talented creators. It's not funny anymore, however.

Because Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group, has published an open letter revealing that the company will be doing some serious restructuring and it starts today. Just in case you're confused: restructuring is just a fancier word for lay-offs and studios being closed, a fact Wingefors dives deeper into it in his letter:

"The actions will include, but not be limited to, closing or divestments of some studios and the termination or pausing of some ongoing game development projects. It will also include decreased spending on non-development costs such as overhead and other operating expenses. We will reduce third party publishing and put greater focus on internal IP and increase external funding of large-budget games.

He doesn't share specifics, however, so we don't know which studios will be most affected by this. Fortunately, Crystal Dynamics has said they're pretty safe, as the new Tomb Raider game with Amazon and the co-development of Perfect Dark will continue. Dambuster will definitely not be shut down either thanks to Dead Island 2 being so successful and they're set to make a third zombie game. I highly doubt the same can be said about Aspyr and Saber Interactive's troubled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake, but time will tell.

Just prepare yourself to hear about many closures and lay-offs in the coming weeks and months, as several disappointing game releases and a massive partnership falling through at the very last minute have cost Embracer billions.