Embracer Collapse Continues, with TimeSplitters Dev Allegedly Next on the Chopping Block

Sony should try to pick some of these studios up super cheap. Even if it's just for to be used as support studios

Colin was right.

So having an absolute glut of studios without someone else's money to prop them up is a bad idea? Who'da thought?

A successful business, while still seeking investment from those that are aligned with their vision, should still be able to stand on their own two feet should those investments fail. In this case, it was the withdrawal of the Saudi Public Fund that caused these major issues in the company. I guess even the Saudis with their more money than pretty much every government at this point know when a company is run unsustainably and would just be a money pit.

Furthermore, Embracer doesn't look like they have a plan B that isn't simply just selling more games. They don't have a service like Game Pass, Plus, Ubisoft+ and EA Play, because lord knows they certainly have the games to pack out a service like that. At this point, creating one would take more money it seems they don't have.

Sony or MS need to get in there before Embracer end up destroying all their studios. You could tell it was coming from a mile off.

Too many good people/games/studios could be lost because of these morons.

Sad news. I’ll certainly like the opportunity to play Time Splitters 2 again. I sold my copy went Time Splitters 3 came out, and it was a bad trade.

That's what you get with lack of regulation, but then you got all those "we want a free market" morons yelling nay, never realising that the limitless free market won't serve a large percentage of people. If you're not rubbing shoulders with CEO buddies, you want regulation.

So basically Embracer came in and took over a host of gaming studios that were part of many a gamers most fondest memories and now they are just going to (probably) close them down. I think it’s shocking. This really is a warning to developers. It may look like the grass is greener when someone comes in offering substantial cash for their time and effort getting to where they are, only to be dropped like a bad habit as soon as things turn awry.. Hopefully these guys can be saved.

Once again I curse at Embracer Group.👿

@BeerIsAwesome the problem isn’t the saudis, it’s Embracers moron of a CEO Lars Wingfors. This absolute lemming bet his company’s life on a verbal agreement, which is the dumbest thing anyone can do for any business arrangement. Literally business 101, everything in writing. The man needs to be ousted, he’s so unbelievably incompetent that anything he touches is a massive liability. No one wants to partner with him now, and it’s because he made a complete rookie mistake.

There should be a law or regulation in place for what Embracer is doing. I honestly will never support them again going forward after this.

This is a example why Sony doesn't buy up to much studio's it so expensive to have to many of them and keep up quality with all of them. Thats why Sony should keep up some smaller studios that don't make games of 100 million plus.

@Ryall pick up a copy of Homefront for a few quid for ps4 and you can play time splitter 2 in 4k. You just have to find the arcade game within the game 👍

@Flaming_Kaiser So they bought Bungie just to waste money on some morons in hope they make dozen of GaaSes no one wants to play...

Feel sorry for the developers, obviously the leaders of these development studios saw the embracer $$ and signed up, it was always going to collapse as nothing worthwhile has come out of any of these embracer group acquisitions, you need money coming in to support this spending and I don't think they've had one big hit yet and unfortunately the employees on the bottom rungs are the ones affected

Hey Sony. That's a gift right there.

Why don't they try to sell the studios or IP's?? it's certainly better to have sold them than to permanently shut them down

With all the studios and IP they'd acquired they'd yet to release anything essential. Was there any long term vision other than buy more studios? Wouldn't surprise me if the whole thing turns out to be some elaborate money laundering or Ponzi scheme.

@DeathlySW I can't disagree with you there. Although some monumental mistakes can be survived by a company as long as the base product is still there, or at least a product of quality. I fear this is not the case for Embracer.

@BeerIsAwesome I can’t help but feel this is less a mistake and more of a tragic case of poor leadership. Wingfors started out more as a little guy, when it came to his presence in the industry at least. I liked him back then, but he absolutely got way too big much too fast. He is not a good leader for what has become such a huge company. This deal’s fallout was either a result of cluelessness or the aftermath of a man who burned out and overlooked core conduct integral to running a company.

I’ve longed for someone to make a new Timesplitters game most of my life. Sad news

@djlard I didn't say they made all smart acquisitions. But if you look at most of their studios make quite high quality games.

I can't remember the last game free radical made. Was it homeland 2? I seem to remember it being talked about in a generally positive way but i never played it. Time splitters 2 was decent on the ps2 but the story from what i remember jumped about too much and i couldnt keep track of it. Sony should buy free radical and bring back time splitters and while they are at it bring back motorstorm and the resistance games..oh and socom too..

@DeathlySW Bit of both. Mistakes happen with poor leadership, but good leadership can learn from those mistakes and never make them again.

@BeerIsAwesome Here’s to hoping we never have to read about one this big again. I understand when someone new to business, someone who might be running a startup or something, makes this mistake. But a CEO who has quite robust experience in his position shouldn’t be making this kind of decision.

I’m hoping they can right the ship, not because I like Wingfors but because these devs are casualties of someone who has wealth beyond their comprehension being a fool.

@DeathlySW Sony shuts the doors of it's studios from time to time, and even Microsoft was laying off staff while simultaneously trying to justify a $69 billion purchase. So it's not just the new/inexperienced guys that cause casualties. What I am apprehensive about, however, is that the more studios a company takes on, the more they have to spread themselves out thin. Quality control often takes a nosedive, and it's not always something throwing money at will solve. Microsoft will almost definitely close some of it's studios, even though many of these studios would've survived long into the future without the ownership.