For three years, Embracer Group has been buying game studios and publishing houses. This turned a local Swedish developer into the largest gaming holding in Europe. The founder and CEO of the company, Lars Wingefors, announced his intention to conduct about 60 more mergers in the “coming months and years.”
According to Vingefors, in the future Embracer Group will pay attention to the UK, USA, France, Poland and China. In addition, the company plans to invest in the mobile games sector.
Embracer Group already owns studios such as Saber Interactive, Gearbox Software, Perfect World Entertainment, etc. It also acquired the independent publisher Dark Horse Media and the developer of board games Asmodee.
According to analysts, today Embracer Group is a chaotic organization, rather resembling a fund of independent studios. Therefore, further expansion may negatively affect the company’s work.
“With all his desire, Lars cannot fully control all the processes. It’s just impossible to keep track of this,” comments Toby Clothier, analyst at Mirabaud Securities.
Ken Rumph, a gaming analyst at Jefferies, called Wingefors’ strategy “aggressively decentralized.” He also expressed concern about Embracer Group’s future plans during a period of severe market turbulence.
“They are going to spend more money at the very moment when consumers are trying to save it,” commented Ramf.
Vingefors himself is optimistic about his plans and strategy. The same sentiments are shared by his partners. In their opinion, the pace of making deals will grow, as the struggle for strong games and new technologies intensifies.
In general, the number of large mergers in the gaming industry has increased in recent years. Earlier, Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, and Take-Two – mobile publisher Zynga for $12.7 billion.