2023 has been an utterly miserable time to be working in the video game industry. Announcements of layoffs from some of the biggest names around have been dominating news sections lately. While we already knew Embracer Group was one of them, we now know the figures.
In the most recent sales report from the Crystal Dynamics and Gearbox Software owner, the company has said it experienced a 13% increase in net sales between July and September of this year (Q2 of their 2023-2024 fiscal year).
It then goes on to acknowledge that “around 900” people were part of the “reduction in headcount.” This equates to 5% of the whole workforce. That’s quite an astonishing amount of people to let go. Embracer Group said it’s also “reduced the number of projects” being worked on and is focussing on “improving the projected return on investment within PC/Console.”
At least the company is doing well…
The report goes on to say that CEO Lars Wingeford would like to “put on record a special thanks to the people who have left Embracer in the quarter.” Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to bring much comfort to those who have lost their jobs.
We already knew that developers under Embracer’s umbrella were being targeted for mass layoffs. However, this latest report really hammers home the extent to which studios have been affected by these “reductions.”
You’ve heard this story dozens of times already. Ubisoft, Team17, Naughty Dog, Amazon, CD Projekt Red, and many more have all been involved in redundancies, many to the tune of hundreds. One wonders whether anyone would still be interested in seeking a career in game development after all this.