Embracer Group Quarterly Report: Game sales of $318 million and plans to purchase new studios

World War Z: AftermathKey figures:

• During the quarter, Embracer Group earned 3.3 billion Swedish kronor ($370 million) on sales. Growth by 38% in annual terms;
• of this amount, 2.8 billion Swedish kronor ($318.5 million) was brought by the gaming direction of the holding. Revenue from gaming sales increased by 89 over the year%;

• 33% of sales revenue was provided by mobile games. For comparison, in the second quarter of 2020, they accounted for only 2%;

• Easybrain projects accounted for the most revenue from game sales — 606.7 million Swedish kronor or $68.2 million. The lowest amount was generated by Coffee Stain games — 120.4 million Swedish kronor or $13.5 million (a drop of 7% in annual terms);
• DECA Games showed a rapid growth in sales revenue. Her earnings immediately increased by 661% to 248.8 million Swedish kronor ($27.9 million). Saber Interactive‘s sales also rose strongly — by 79% to 462.9 million Swedish kronor ($52 million);
• as for the other major studios of the Embracer Group, their revenues from game sales were distributed as follows: Koch Media — 584.7 million Swedish kronor or $ 65.7 million, Gearbox Entertainment — 433.6 million Swedish kronor or $ 48.8 million, THQ Nordic — 374 million Swedish kronor or $ 42 million. It should be noted that the revenue from game sales at THQ Nordic decreased by 34% over the year, and at Koch Media — increased by 15%. Gearbox Entertainment joined the holding only in February, so its dynamics are unknown;
• The holding’s EBITDA increased by 69% compared to last year and amounted to 1.64 billion Swedish kronor ($184.5 million);
• Embracer Group has invested a record 881 million Swedish kronor ($91.2 million) in the development of new games. At the end of September, there were 197 titles in development — 46% more than a year ago;

• By March 2026, the company is going to release 25 AAA games. Of these games, 11 are almost completely ready, 6 are at the pre-production stage, and a concept is just being created for 8.

• Over the past 12 months, Embracer Group has bought 37 gaming companies, and it plans to buy as many more over the next 12 months. On M&A, she has 23.3 billion Swedish kronor ($3.73 billion) in cash and credit;
• the number of employees of the holding increased by 103.9% and reached 9064 people. Of these, 7470 are directly engaged in development.

Data on individual games:

• During the quarter, Embracer Group’s mobile games were played by an average of 35 million people daily. The total MAU of titles was 271 million. Total game downloads have reached 350 million;
• the number of copies sold of Kingdom Come: Deliverance has passed the milestone of 4 million. Recall that the game was released in 2018;
• The company postponed the releases of Saints Row and another “unannounced, but expected” game for the fourth quarter. As she explained, developers use extra time to work out the quality of titles;
• According to Embracer Group, the September releases of Hot Wheels Unleashed, World War Z: Aftermath and the console version of Insurgency: Sandstorm were successful. But the company did not share the figures.