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Embracer Group Cancels ‘Deus Ex’ Video Game (www.bloomberg.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Archive link: https://archive.ph/WOlNl

The Swedish gaming company Embracer Group AB is canceling a video game in the beloved Deus Ex series after two years of development and will lay off a number of employees as part of an ongoing initiative to cut costs, according to people familiar with the moves.

Eidos, the Montreal, Canada-based studio behind the game, will instead focus on an original franchise. The canceled Deus Ex project, which had not yet been announced, was slated to enter production later this year, said the people, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to talk to the press.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following a period of massive expansion during the pandemic, Embracer Group has lately been making widespread layoffs, game cancellations and studio closures.

The sci-fi Deus Ex series has been critically acclaimed and sold more than 14 million units worldwide. It was acquired by Embracer in 2022.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I'm not saying that the game would've been kept off Eidos was still at SE, but I'm so tired of big corporations acquiring companies just for their IP while killing their projects and laying off their staff.

Embracer has a long history of acquisitions, and I am kind of wondering how long it will take until they decide to just "loan" out the IP they've bought instead of putting out any games at all.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I am honestly not super sure about this strategy of buying your way into being a major publisher by vacuuming up IP nobody else was bidding for. What did they think would happen? Did they think the old majors were leaving a ton of money on the table and then realized too late that these really weren't that profitable? Or was it just a bid that the low interest rates would last forever and the portfolion would just pay for itself if they bundled it large enough?

I don't know what the business plan was meant to be, and it's kinda killing me that I don't fully grasp it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Did they think the old majors were leaving a ton of money on the table and then realized too late that these really weren't that profitable?

It always struck me as Moneyball. That yes, the big publishers were leaving a ton of money on the table by not catering to customers that are there but have been long abandoned in favor of the true goliaths like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed. The way the big publishers used to operate was by making a lot of bets and then building on what worked while making other new bets. Instead, AAA portfolios went from dozens of games per year down to single digits. When you make a lot of bets, some of them inevitably won't work.

Or was it just a bid that the low interest rates would last forever and the portfolion would just pay for itself if they bundled it large enough?

Yes, not mutually exclusive with the above strategy, lol.

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