15 votes

Embracer Group acquires Gearbox Entertainment (Borderlands), Aspyr Media (Civilization VI), and Easybrain (mobile puzzle games)

These are large acquisitions, but Embracer Group already owns a lot:

The Group has an extensive catalogue of over 200 owned franchises, such as Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Darksiders, Metro, MX vs ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, TimeSplitters, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z amongst many others.

With its head office based in Karlstad, Sweden, Embracer Group has a global presence through its six operative groups: THQ Nordic GmbH, Koch Media GmbH/Deep Silver, Coffee Stain AB, Amplifier Game Invest, Saber Interactive and DECA Games. The Group has 57 internal game development studios and is engaging more than 5,500 employees and contracted employers in more than 40 countries.

Articles about each of the new acquisitions on GamesIndustry.biz:

5 comments

  1. [2]
    Deimos
    Link
    I also think this is interesting as a clear demonstration of some of the unintuitive business dynamics in the gaming industry right now. Gearbox and Aspyr are both really big names in the...

    I also think this is interesting as a clear demonstration of some of the unintuitive business dynamics in the gaming industry right now. Gearbox and Aspyr are both really big names in the PC/console gaming space with prominent franchises, but their combined acquisition price (without the longer-term performance bonuses) was about $460 million. They paid about 40% more than that for Easybrain, who makes free sudoku and nonogram games for phones.

    From the GamesIndustry articles I linked, Gearbox had $125M revenue in 2019, when they released Borderlands 3. Easybrain's 2020 revenue was $200M.

    6 votes
    1. stu2b50
      Link Parent
      I think people definitely overestimate how lucrative AAA game developers are. Forget the realm of SaaS companies, where it seems newly minted Unicorns pop out every other week in the private...

      I think people definitely overestimate how lucrative AAA game developers are. Forget the realm of SaaS companies, where it seems newly minted Unicorns pop out every other week in the private market, let alone the public one, that $460m is only about 2x what the podcasting company Gimlet went for last year, indicating that one or the other of Gearbox or Aspyr is worth the same or less.

      Games are quite expensive, and their revenue cadence is terrible. You burn through cash for years until the title comes out, and that release is heavily variable. Things out of your control like, what is IGN saying about my game? What is social media's narrative on my game? play a heavy role. The game market is also incredibly competitive.

      Not to say that game development is infeasible as a industry, but it's not what people think when they just see revenue numbers upon a new release.

      9 votes
  2. [3]
    hamstergeddon
    Link
    Maybe Embracer can light a fire under Aspyr's ass to address the major issues present in the macOS port of Civ 6. Play a couple turn and your mac locks up completely. One more turn? I don't think so!

    Maybe Embracer can light a fire under Aspyr's ass to address the major issues present in the macOS port of Civ 6. Play a couple turn and your mac locks up completely. One more turn? I don't think so!

    3 votes
    1. joplin
      Link Parent
      That's so sad. Aspyr has done some really good ports to macOS. I believe they did the Sims franchise for years, as well as Call of Duty and Borderlands. It's not like they don't know what they're...

      That's so sad. Aspyr has done some really good ports to macOS. I believe they did the Sims franchise for years, as well as Call of Duty and Borderlands. It's not like they don't know what they're doing. I'm bummed to hear that.

      3 votes
    2. kfwyre
      Link Parent
      I hate to say this, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They left the Linux version of Borderlands 2 high and dry. I don’t know if it’s actually their fault or not, so I don’t necessarily hold it...

      I hate to say this, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They left the Linux version of Borderlands 2 high and dry. I don’t know if it’s actually their fault or not, so I don’t necessarily hold it against them, but I also wouldn’t really count on them either.

      Also, in case anyone is interested, the workaround for Borderlands 2 on Linux is simply to run the Windows version through Proton, which works fine after you swap the launcher out with the game executable.

      2 votes