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Honestly, EA is at least making genuine attempts to better themselves with better work environment treatments, some ethical business decisions, (like with a madden memorial from a shooting incident) and good games, where as Embracer is embracing their downfall
I feel like at this point, Embracer Group is so hated that I don’t think they can even kill IP. The fans will make the demand for the series screwed over by Embracer very clear. I feel like scooping up the IP after Embracer inevitably goes under would just be an easy win if you actually treated them with respect.
"We can't afford to make Deus Ex, a game we have already sunk millions into just to start development. So instead, lets sink millions more into a new IP in which we have to sink millions more intol" I swear, if this company fought fires and couldn't afford the water to put out a house fire, they would just start more fires to fight to make money to fight the first 1
@@cullain3967Don’t worry thats just a part of the reconstruction program to cut costs. You know pleasing shareholders is the overruling principle. They just need to get through it. 😂😂😂
Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that they are not making Deus Ex under the current "AAA" corporate climate we've been having. Not to mention Mankind Divided was already going in the wrong direction, with its in-game purchases, technical issues and the whole "this is totally going to be an episodic series, so no need to have a proper/full story for the first entry!".
They thought the saudis would buy them out, so the amount of money spent on acquisitions wouldn't matter. The deal fell apart, and now the companies they bought pay the price.
@@josephsonkwa6728 And now they're going to try and sell those studios and IPs for more than they paid for them to recover those losses, meaning they're going to just rot away until Embracer finally goes under and the assets get scooped up for pennies on the dollar by someone who just wants portfolio padding.
They wouldn’t have canceled those games if they were promising financially. They employed a lot of people that did not benefit them. That’s the harsh reality. There is a reason why no one likes to take over a studio like Volition.
What is even the point of canceling a game that has been in development for 2 years and then start another project? No wonder you're losing money by doing that..
It's called chasing trends, to reassure investors that don't understand how video game works and just want to be promised the next Fortnite and mountains of cash.
Well firstly....we don't know everything.....even though we quarterback....considering how many bad games come out...And we complain. Why didn't they cancel it. Like the new Saints Row. It's possible that they looked at it and it was bad. And they didn't think they could make back the money.....and they'd have to spend more millions. It's often times better to cancel a game....than spend more money or risk losing more rep.
Nah, he's a _corporate chameleon_ he calls everyone out except for Sony, he simps them instead. Recently when the Insomniac leaks happened he said he would not be sharing them and everyone how did was a _bad journalist_ because they hurt the livelyhood of the devs, when the hypocrite shared GTA6 when it leaked and also Capcom ones. Take all his statements with a grain of salt.
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Stock market is going to be the death of capitalism unfortunately. No longer is it about selling a product people want but instead doing whatever makes the stock price go up in the short term.
@@GeraltofRivia22 you're absolutely right. It's sickening. Like... why on earth would they care about the people who actually buy their products? Why on earth would they want to make those people happy?
@@slartibartifastoverdrive195You mean that group wearing the skin of Rocksteady and don't forget Sweet baby adding the gem on that polished terd of a game.
@@slartibartifastoverdrive195The current Rocksteady is just a shell of its former self. The founders and the old team that built the Arkhamverse have been long gone, making a new game company.
If you still by AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games you are the problem and deserver the garbage you get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Meanwhile Legends like Fromsoft(Bandai may be a problem though), Larian, and SO MANY AA and indie are doing things right, and I absolutely love the praise and attention those games are getting now.
Wow, first Warner Bros cancelled Coyote VS Acme, now we have Embracer Group cancelling games we were hoping to see the light of day. Is this what the entertainment and gaming industry coming to?
It's the ultimate act of idiocy. These companies are so investment focused they forget that they are supposed to produce _entertainment,_ but the entertainment industry is one that requires experimentation and creativity in order to keep customers invested in their product. These corpos view experimentation and creativity as a _risk,_ which they despise because it _might_ result in lost profits. If you take out the risk you take out what makes entertainment worth investing in, but the corpos don't get that so they look at their projects and say "either produce something safe and mid or be destroyed" and then get confused when the surviving projects don't make them any money because they're not entertaining enough. They're caught in a loop where they spend money with no true profits made, except for what they can save by not paying their employees.
This is what happens when you put suits and merchants at the top of companies that trade on creativity. The suits are some of the most boring people on the planet. They have no respect or passion for cinematography or videogames, and they do only what they know to do - make everything necessary to make a profit and push the share's value up. And that kills the creative aspect of those industries. Unfortunately, more and more such companies, are doing away with leadership from within the industry, and replacing them with suits who come from outside - we are entering a dark age of creativity and entertainment - and with AI on the horizon, it will get worse and worse.
The Embracer group’s behavior is actually dangerous across more than video games. Embracer also owns Dark Horse Entertainment and Asmodee. So they can negatively impact film, comics, book publishing, international distribution, and tabletop gaming. It’s utterly terrifying to consider.
How is it dangerous. They are letting go off unprofitable people and businesses. Those people can create their own studios and games if they are so great and profitable. The truth is that all the people who get angry about the current situation don’t offer solutions. Video game Development has gotten too expensive. The risks are too high. If that weren’t the case we would see far more success stories and companies in the industry founded by people who think like yourself.
@@raskolnikov6443 So why not release any games? Where do they think the profit is supposed to come from if they keep cancelling every fucking game? These studios make games not iphones so ofcourse there's no money coming in if the supply keeps getting cut off by the higher ups. It's like they're strangling someone and going "Why can't you breathe?"
They can? No. They will. This company (just like many others) have shown their priorities. They do not care about story telling or art. They only care about nickle and dimming every last penny out of you. It is best to completely ignore them and go for indie or developers like the one's from Baldur's Gate or Elden Ring. At least as long as the latter aren't affected by corporate greed. Chances are, they will sink in the far off future too.
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Particular Shareholders dominating the gaming market and they keep changing everything for the worst with their ESG requirements. Corporates want that money so they only focus on doing what the shareholders want. It's sickening
It's a mix of both, people buying them is what has led companies to believe they can shovel out shit because people will pay top money for it. I blame players for buying bull crap. just like how paying to play online is literally just giving Sony Nintendo and Microsoft free money. This is why I stopped playing online Nintendo games, and why I switched to PC from console. im not giving playstation and Microsoft money to use the online services that they don't have anything to do with.
There needs to be a law that if a company lays off employees within the last 12 months, they are not allowed to give executive bonuses. Devs hire a ton of people to work on a game. It launches. They lay a shit load of people off. Then 6 months later the executives get a multi million dollar bonus for record profits.
Y'know, we used to see EA as the gold standard of terrible, they are still bad obviously, but nowadays, it's like everyone is one upping them in the worst way.
Tbf, EA seems to have learned to just keep quiet. They'll spew the occasional BS every now and then, but compares to what it was like some 10+ years ago, they seem to have learned that the less their executives speak in public, the less people seem to hate the company. A lesson Yves Guillemot is in dire need of learning...
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
@@robertnapier624somewhat is a good summary. To be frank I’m not into sports games but from what I know they are the same games with a lot of mtx. But among flops, there was a few bright moments. I will just mentioned games I played: unravel 1 and 2 (I do not mind this being a small game if it is a good one and fairly priced), A Way Out (I was a bit disappointed by the ending but overall a good game, reasonably priced, huge commercial and financial success), It Takes Two (higher price but one can see the love and passion put into creation of levels and their design, also a big success), Jedi The Fallen Order (good game which performed above expectations). Their subscription is the cheapest one on the market if someone can wait a year for a game to end up there. At the same time they still make wrong calls like with Immortals of Aveum (85M production cost + 40M marketing cost). They still milk the sports game, I’m not a big fan of battlefield but 2042 had issues. Meaning as a company EA is still not a good one. Not to mention the acquisitions, studios they killed, IPs they own and do nothing with them. Embracer when they got THQ seemed like a new player, they released a few games and remakes fine. But with time it seems like they were biting more than they can chew. Supposedly to pump up the balloon and than sell for profit as gaming was growing market. They are now collapsing under their own weight. This is sad because of the people who will get fired, and for us as gamers as Embracer might sit on (supposedly $1B worth) IPs they will do nothing with just put them in the drawer. Which means we might not see new games from many IPs they own. But budget game part of the industry needs a reset. Sadly many IPs might be buried with this process.
This puts the words said by Larian Studios at the SAME event into perspective. These people do NOT know how to make games or make money. Treat your people well and please the customers and money flows, it is not complicated. But this has become a societal problem not just in the game industry. So… put them out of business, they deserve nothing. Lets see how the shareholders like that.
Every action has an ebb and flow. While major publishers shutting down due to their shitty choices will result in more Baldur’s Gate 3 as opposed to Gollumlikes. Unfortunately that does result in hundreds of devs getting laid off. While I can hope they‘d be able to bounce back and work their dream projects. The reality is unemployment is scary and there will be some devs who unfortunately fall through the cracks.
Imagine a butcher not caring about meat or a baker not caring about bread... That's so ridiculous. The shareholders are the least important thing in every good company.
Embracer: "Our ultimate goal is to satisfy the shareholders." Also Embracer: *Constantly cancels projects after sinking money into them, instead of releasing more products for sale to earn more money*
At this point, I’m just straight having a good times with indie games than grinding hours on soulless money hungry triple AAA live service craps in the modern days of gaming.
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
There's a line I was reminded of with Bungie leadership being asked by their staff if they'd considered a pay cut to spare layoffs and were told they 'weren't that type of company'. Alas, Iwata is praised for a reason.
@@raskolnikov6443 symbolism. he made a huge mistake and he has to suffer for it, not his employees, that's what a good leader should do. it's sad that he did not make it to the release of the switch to see that his new direction paid off.
@@Majinhero Him and many other Nintendo leaders including Miyamoto. Disagree on say, how Paper Mario is handled, but they knew it was better to have the developers than have some more cash in the bank. It certainly isn't them all going 'we're not that kind of company' about it.
If your overruling principle is to maximize your shareholders value, then dont be surprised if the only type of investors you get are those who are only interessted in making as much money as quick as possible... a self fullfilling prophecy...
There are other types of investors? I’m under the impression hood game development is only possible if the company shields its creatives from the shareholders or shareholders aren’t a factor at all
@@saycap There are. They are just less numerous and their money in relation to the first type depends on if the first one's stupidity has yet to catch up with them
When a company enters the stock market is because there's something wrong with it. You don't give away pieces of your business if it is doing ok. There's a lot of huge and successful companies that are still private. And others that are in the stock market, but with the absolute majority of shares owned by a single person. The real problem is when the shares are spread among many investors.
@@arx3516 "Yeah in USA they are legally required to focus on maximising shareholder profit" - that is a common misconception. its not a legal requirement but heavily heavily incentivised by the shareholders
If the Embracer Group had just taken their capital, stuck it in long term stocks then their shareholders, the games industry and gamers in general would all have been a lot better off, the leadership of that company have been an absolute disaster for everything they have touched. Gamers don't want investment, gamers deserve commitment...
Embracer isn't in it for the customers, I am genuinely confused why people would expect anything other than this outcome for a company with shareholders. They didn't invest their money because the love games, the IPs or care about gamers, it's because they percieved the ability to cut expenses while maintaining similar quantity of outputs that people will still buy, and gamers are nothing if not predictable regarding name brand loyalty. That's why microtransactions won't ever go away - the minority who complain about them is just worth less money than the people who spend on them.
@@iamjustkiwiat least they release most of their games DRM free. One of the last corporations in the industry left. It’s why I am always glad when they release a game I like and I usually can get it on GOG. That’s far more pro consumer than what 90% of the industry offers.
With all the downs embracer has, they are still one of the better people in the whole industry. Alone the fact that the top brass did take cuts themselves is enaugh for me to be still optimistic. The gaming sphere can not loose embracer, else everything is gonna end up in the real cutthroat hands of Msft, Sony and Tencent.
Embracer Group is that drunk friend that gets you into a fight, promises to have your back, and then when the fight starts he runs away and telling you that he’s going to go back to the bar and get help. Then, after you get beaten up, you go back and he’s sitting chatting to some girl, too drunk to remember what he was doing, or that he was the one that started the fight in the first place.
How is borrowing a bunch of money, buying out profitable studios, and laying everyone off, “maximizing shareholder value?” Isn’t your shareholder value going to take a nose dive when the market figures out you have destroyed the real value of these studios? Seems more like maximize shareholder value until you get your bonus and then drop this dumpster fire of a company on someone else’s lap while you jump ship with your golden parachute.
its laughable at this point bcuz embracer admitted to axing the studio DURING the developing process. its like when will they learn? i hope that game somehow comes out and rubs embracer noses.
I really don't understand what Embracer trying to do. Out of nowhere they bought a lot of developers + IP in a short time but then suddenly they just lay off thousands of employees and cancelled many project in development? Fkin nuts.
They're basically acting like a private equity firm where they buy up assets only to either saddle them with debt or do the worst cost cutting imaginable. Look up what a "leveraged buyout" is and how that caused businesses like Toys 'R Us to go bankrupt and out of business. This is classic vulture capitalism but instead of buying up distressed businesses Embracer is like "oh you can't do geometric growth and double/triple our initial investment? Shut it down!" Financial grifters like Embracer and private equity should be illegal to operate.
Wouldn't be surprised if Embracer Group becomes the next Gamigo. A publisher holding onto IPs, long after their prime, & milking for what ever money they can squeeze out of them before shutting the game down.
There was actually a plotpoint in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth that involves company layoffs. It came at a surprisingly good time with a lot of company layoffs happening. Where SPOILER!!!! Ichiban Kasuga became unemployed due to him being layed off from the company he worked for Hello Works. With a game mechanic in the game being scrounging for supplies. It is quite reflective of the cruel world of company layoffs
Except there is a difference between what happened in Infinite Wealth and what Embracer Group is doing. The latter is letting people go because of a false belief it will save them money and increase profits. Ichiban was framed to make it look like he was using his job as a front for the yakuza, resulting in Hello Works letting him go so as to not suffer from the backlash the frame-up created.
@@TheLyokoWarriorsof course it will save them money and increase their profits. They are shutting down the least profitable studios and least promising (financially) projects.
Has the Embracer group actually released a successful game? I constantly hear about them buying studios and IP. Then firing everyone. Have they seen any return on investment?
This HAS to result in new laws and regulations, companies shouldn't just be able to acquire studio after studio without demonstrating that they can handle it.
@@saycapgame development has gotten too expensive. People love to complain but don’t offer any solutions. Why are these studios all bought up by these big public corporations? Because these studios are in a precarious position anyways and would probably have to shut down otherwise. Like Warhorse studios. Their game Kingdom Come deliverance (budget of around 40 million) was a huge financial risk and securing investment took them many years. Luckily for them it paid off and the game sold decently but they decided to join Embracer anyways. Why? Because their biggest investor didn’t want to invest in the sequel and if one project fails the life’s of the people running the studio is ruined and they are in huuuuge debt. It’s just way too risky.
@@raskolnikov6443 Fair. However, many AAA and AA games today have extremely inflated costs due to overproduction and focus on graphical fidelity, and end up not being fun experiences but more like half-baked tech demos. If your company just makes flop after flop I’d argue that then falls on the creative directors and marketing doing something wrong than anything else. It’s totally possible to start small with a team of ~3-5 people and make something amazing that people love, and expand scope from there. Trying to make something huge and expansive that doesn’t have a tested formula or audience is a recipe for failure, and you’re relying on investor security because your product isn’t refined. Plenty of indie titles that blew up in the last few years have had only a small amount of people and budget, they just made smart decisions.
The idea of shareholder value is one of the biggest economic crimes committed against people. This idiotic concept has caused incalculable damage to the economy and people lives. The sickest part is most shareholders and stock holders don't even benefit from maximizing shareholder value, most people loose money in the stock market, the one who benefit most are the executives who are given free shares. Their wealth increases when stocks go up, they get more money in dividends, they can use their shares a collateral to get loans to buy houses an yachts, and when they need to pay those loan payments they can sell shares they were given for free. Maximizing shareholder value is a scam to make a few already wealthy people even wealthier. In the long run in only damages companies, the economy and peoples lives.
What really irritates the crap out of me is that companies still havent figured out the winning formula. Its very simple. Step 1: make quality products that make the consumer happy. Step 2: sales increase due to happy consumers. Step 3: increased profits due to increased sales. Step 4: share holders are happy. It's really simple. Make the consumer happy and ultimately you'll make share holders happy
Your logic is flawed. Shareholders are never happy. Whatever money you made isn't enough, because there's always more that could have been made. Shareholders view return in their investments in the same way a game publisher sees your time when they launch a live service: bottomless and belonging to them in it's entirety.
To be honest, is not that simple. 1) what is a quality product? Generic Live Service Online on crap or a one done game that might not resonate with the gamers who have acquired taste. 2) sales is random, not every game is destined to sell like hot cake. 3) problem of 2 4) Shareholders are profit driven and profit now, future profit means nothing to them. Now or get lost. Is not as simple.
@@ringring8938 Technically it is as simple as OP said, as long as you're not overestimating your product. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are good examples: one flopped initially because it released on a market without much interest in it, but Bandai saw that there was a very particular market of western gamers that craved something like it, and thus they cut a deal with Sony to become Fromsoft's publisher. When it came time for Dark Souls, both From and Bandai knew their market was niche, and thus the game and marketing were budgeted accordingly, and a large part of it's target audience learned of it by word of mouth instead of big marketing pushes. Of course this story eventually snowballs into the titan that was Elden Ring, but i feel that Elden Ring is the outlier of the story, because Fromsoft's meteoric rise to fame was truly unpredictable, but everything before it was clearly measured and made to an audience they knew was interested.
People seem to still be cheering for mergers and big buy outs, like Microsoft buying Activision ....they still don't get it that more consolidation into the hands of mega-corporations is not a good thing. When all the power and creativity is concentrated in the hands of a few entities those entities have massive potential for damage
The gaming industry is in a dire state! It’s unfreaking believable that the state of the gaming industry is this bad, all physical media is becoming endangered, and all art in the industry is becoming endangered!
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
I'm not a developer, but if I understand correctly a cancelled proyect also kicks you because all the time an effort spent in coding, drawing, etc. Goes to the trash, because as no product will ship, plus whatever NDA clauses you have in your contract, now you got nothing to to add to your resume.
It sucks they were relying on the $2 billion deal from Saudi and committed to everything but after it fell through so many people will be layed off, years wasted, franchises and studios damaged to destroyed. I get they probably have no money but it really sucks and them not carrying about anyone besides themselves despite it being completely their incompetent mistake is disgusting
the same thing happened with movie industry. corporate execs trying to dictate the creatives and come up with the worst product known to man (madame web, star wars prequel, etc) I hope we start paying more attention to indie movies and indie games. with all the big studios in the grasp of the corpo execs, we can support indie studios
This feels like a hostage situation. Embracer is murdering games and studios that they have bought and it’s like they are saying to us: “if you don’t buy our games the same thing could happen to your favourite games too.” Just disgusting…
Glad I experienced gaming in the 80's and 90's, where we didn't read about stuff like this. I'm sure it existed in one form of another, but the scale in which this happens today is unprecedented.
This is the first time I've ever seen a company, in the games industry or otherwise, admit that shareholders take precedents above everything else. Yeah, we've all known the growing trend, but most companies try to at least hide it to mask up their reputation. Embracer says "we don't have reputation anymore so fuck it, shareholders are first and for most". What a garbage company!
I never thought the day that a video game company outright Embracer dethroned EA Games crown of the most hated/worst video company in the world. This has been such a serious battle on who is the most hated game company of all time.
Why the hell are their not laws that punish business for withdrawing from deals like this when you can basically destroy your competitors by saying I'll give you money and then just backing out of the deal later.
They certainly embrace the idea of executing studios because they don't know how to manage acquisitions and ethics and relationships and so on with their studios Embracer is just a poison.
Developers should get to own the IP if it gets cancelled or paused for a set duration. Having worked on it for 5 months or more regardless if they've been layed off.
It sucks seeing Embracer go from 100 to 0 so quickly. Hard to believe they'd hedge their bets one one big deal like that. This is why you don't gamble, people.
As far as admitting their number priority is to maximize shareholders profits goes, people ask for this lind of transparency from companies until they get it
Sounds like the AAA industry needs a BBB investigation. Seriously, how is there not legal consequences for purposely running a company this egregiously? Flat out no competence from the CEO to even try to have its employees’ livelihoods as even an after thought.
Because so many people still have the “games are a waste of time” mentality. So they believe that looking into these developers is a waste of time. It’s that simple.
@@WllKiedSnake The a.i retextures, come-with-engine skybox and effect assets could literally be done by a single modder. This was an easy cash grab. As this video shows, they are not interested in anything above that.
@@-castradomis-1773 That's funny as the people behind the Tomb Raider Remasters are modders who were brought on to remaster the first three Tomb Raiders because their work was so good. And it turned out very well!
Embracer Group cancelling 29 games, and then laying off over a thousand people for it, how is that right? Embracer Group doesn’t have to lay off people if they would just stick to developing these IPs and releasing them. There has to be a way to punish leadership for bad management, wasting millions of dollars to develop games and then turning around and canceling them, thats not the Devs fault, the gaming industry seems to only lay off the devs, but not the Executives and CEOs who ultimately made the stupid decisions anyways.
Comments like this make me realise a lot of people really don't know what caused Embracer to do this. Embracer had a 2 billion investor deal coming up, so they started buying up interesting IPs before said deal was closed. The deal fell through at the last moment. So right now they're in a massive debt. That's why they're cancelling projects and laying off staff. They can't just stick to developing ALL projects BECAUSE of the debt. They went all in on their gamble and lost, that sucks big time. Especially knowing the Deus Ex sequel got cancelled AGAIN.
@@Fungluttonof course socialism sucks. You wouldn’t even have one AAA game under socialism. A much bigger problem are publicly traded companies not capitalism. You could have a capitalist system without it
its funny when they say " our overruling principle is to maximize shareholder value" considering history has shown that when you piss off your customers, and get rid of yoru talent, the value of your shares goes down, to maximize the profit for your shareholders, you need to make games that players want, you need to make your customers happy, by keeping your talent happy and working, and making your customers happy, you in turn keep the value of the shares high
Except from the shareholders perspective he is a great success. Do you think they invested because they care about gamers? If anything they will give him a raise, hes doing what it's his job to do...
@@tommyllama4558exactly, he gains funds, buys the company, gaining value, then proceeds to mismanage everything and lose money, fire everyone until the company is just a shell (thus losing its value) but they maintain the IP's which they cant do anything with, because they fired everyone!
As weird as this sounds I am rather glad that EG was blunt about putting investors first. I have gotten so tired of being pissed on and being told that it's raining by gaming companies for years.
If your number 1 priority is the shareholders and investors, just make good games, invest a few years in them, don't close companies, don't lay off people. Maybe you have less money now, but you get huge earnings in a few years.
Sorry to say this. But that's not how irl works, instant profit or you take tens of millions of losses immediately. Making games is actually a huge gamble. Square Enix have tried and failed, they couldn't recoup from these studio development. The CEO do not think of the wellness of they company they work for, they only think of themselves. Why screw themselves over when they can screw everyone else, after all if the company folded they can simply go elsewhere. AI are better CEO than human CEO cause they cannot leave and have stiffer management, plus you only need to maintain the Management server.
Do you think the gaming industry would be in the state it's in now if it cared for long term profits over short term? Just look at how hard they pushed pre-order culture in the 2000s, when we had whole missions or pieces of content slashed from games and given piecemeal to different retailers as pre-order bonuses. All in the name of guaranteeing a sale before your product even exists.
Unfortunately investors and shareholders and the c-suite execs are only interested in the next quarter, long-term thinking isn't even a brain fart much less a philosophy If they were interested in long-term stable growth then your idea would be valid, but that's not the world we live in
Don't you see the flaw in your own logic? Why should they bother doing good games if they wanna satisfy their shareholders in the first place? Shareholders don't care about good games, gamers do! However, their desires clearly don't matter. Shareholders only care about quick cash which requires easy strategies. You can't do good games with easy strategies. High quality products require time and effort. Neither Embracer nor their shareholders have patience for that. Time is money, so they wanna invest as little of it as possible for as big of a short-term profit as possible as the end result. The aftermath of that genius endeavor we're witnessing now. And it's way too late to make a 180, so they might as well just stick to their ruinous business practices till the bitter end. The suits responsible for this disaster are all gonna be fine anyway. It's only the employees that gonna pay the ultimate price for this lunacy. No biggie. The most important thing remaining is keep the shareholders happy, no one else.
No studio should so openly consider selling their rights to the devil unless the ceo is also a greedy corporate bastard. When you sell to a public company, you are signing your death certificate.
never knew who greg miller was until seeing him on the FPS podcast last week we need more people like him in this industry guys got balls to say what were all thinking regardless of who the audience is
Yes, Embracer has so many Beloved IP's under them. At the moment, we're waiting with bated breath to see what the next Beloved IP will be Plowed Under Them.
I’m tired of companies gobbling up IP’s like it’s a golden goose then discarding the devs, the ones who made those IP’s, and then wondering why they’re not making money
Im sad that in 2024 people STILL believe any company that has shareholders will do anything other than produce the minimum viable product they can rely on their audience to still buy. Capitalism will NEVER result in a move towards increased quality, only the direction towards how much an audience will tolerate without abandoning the thing, and often they fail at even that.
Capitialism is not the issue here. It's having a publicly listed company in the first place, where accountability shifts from consumers to shareholders. All the best games ever made have been made by capitilism. You're poorly mistaken if you think any other economic model outputs better games.
@@danielthecritic88 capitalism necessitates publicly listed companies. Also you're really showing your ass when you say I am implying anything about other economic models, all I did is point out that this is what capitalism requires. This system doesn't need you out here playing defense for it 🫢
The biggest fuck up was them relying on the deal with the one group going through Im not great with buisness and even i can see that was such a stupid idea
I will never understand why publishers buy out dev studios just to fire most of the staff and/or turn around and shut then down, like, two seconds later. If you don't have the money to maintain a studio, why are you buying it???
This is one of the reasons I like to play lots of early access and Indie games :D Far more likely to get a passion project with fun gameplay :D Just run the risk of them being abandoned, shovel wear or asset flips :D
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point. Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage. Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Embracer out here trying to give EA a run for its money.
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I never like him and he can go eff himself
Honestly, EA is at least making genuine attempts to better themselves with better work environment treatments, some ethical business decisions, (like with a madden memorial from a shooting incident) and good games, where as Embracer is embracing their downfall
Thank you Chong Yue for the awesome news
I feel like at this point, Embracer Group is so hated that I don’t think they can even kill IP. The fans will make the demand for the series screwed over by Embracer very clear. I feel like scooping up the IP after Embracer inevitably goes under would just be an easy win if you actually treated them with respect.
Review Helldivers 2
"We can't afford to make Deus Ex, a game we have already sunk millions into just to start development. So instead, lets sink millions more into a new IP in which we have to sink millions more intol" I swear, if this company fought fires and couldn't afford the water to put out a house fire, they would just start more fires to fight to make money to fight the first 1
If your house was burning they would burn down your neighbours houses to stop it from spreading...
@@cullain3967 Thanks Embracer, very cool 👌
@@cullain3967Don’t worry thats just a part of the reconstruction program to cut costs. You know pleasing shareholders is the overruling principle. They just need to get through it. 😂😂😂
Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that they are not making Deus Ex under the current "AAA" corporate climate we've been having.
Not to mention Mankind Divided was already going in the wrong direction, with its in-game purchases, technical issues and the whole "this is totally going to be an episodic series, so no need to have a proper/full story for the first entry!".
Hilariously accurate analogy
Cancelled 29 games and laid off 1400 ppl? Do they just sit on their ass expecting money to flow into their pockets?
Yes. You really had to ask?
These guys buying game studios constantly for years and yet not a single good game came from them. And I thought Ubisoft and EA was bad
They thought the saudis would buy them out, so the amount of money spent on acquisitions wouldn't matter. The deal fell apart, and now the companies they bought pay the price.
@@josephsonkwa6728 And now they're going to try and sell those studios and IPs for more than they paid for them to recover those losses, meaning they're going to just rot away until Embracer finally goes under and the assets get scooped up for pennies on the dollar by someone who just wants portfolio padding.
They wouldn’t have canceled those games if they were promising financially. They employed a lot of people that did not benefit them. That’s the harsh reality. There is a reason why no one likes to take over a studio like Volition.
What is even the point of canceling a game that has been in development for 2 years and then start another project? No wonder you're losing money by doing that..
It's called chasing trends, to reassure investors that don't understand how video game works and just want to be promised the next Fortnite and mountains of cash.
@@playwars3037that and leadership probably don't have a vision for the game.
Tax writeoffs
Look up early life of the leadership
Well firstly....we don't know everything.....even though we quarterback....considering how many bad games come out...And we complain. Why didn't they cancel it. Like the new Saints Row. It's possible that they looked at it and it was bad. And they didn't think they could make back the money.....and they'd have to spend more millions. It's often times better to cancel a game....than spend more money or risk losing more rep.
Bravo to that gentleman for calling out Embracer Group.
That gentleman is a joke himself
@@JonySmith-bb4gx Well, I'm not the biggest fan of him myself, but props to him for that call out becase it is goated.
Move over E.A.. You’re about to be Embraced.
Nah, he's a _corporate chameleon_ he calls everyone out except for Sony, he simps them instead.
Recently when the Insomniac leaks happened he said he would not be sharing them and everyone how did was a _bad journalist_ because they hurt the livelyhood of the devs, when the hypocrite shared GTA6 when it leaked and also Capcom ones.
Take all his statements with a grain of salt.
Greg Miller is a hack, but I guess he has his moments.
The stock market has RUINED the integrity of companies and the quality of products.
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch (Capitalist Mix).
Corporate 'Merica, bayba!
Stock market is going to be the death of capitalism unfortunately. No longer is it about selling a product people want but instead doing whatever makes the stock price go up in the short term.
@@GeraltofRivia22 you're absolutely right. It's sickening. Like... why on earth would they care about the people who actually buy their products? Why on earth would they want to make those people happy?
EA: Star Wars Battlefront 2 Lootboxes
ABK: Diablo Immortal
Bethesda: Fallout 76
Square Enix: NFTs
Ubisoft: Paid boosters
Rocksteady: Destroying the Arkhamverse
Embracer: Gentlemen, hold my beer.
Make sure to blame Warner Bros. for Suicide Squad. Rocksteady is the only reason that game has any redeeming qualities at all.
@@slartibartifastoverdrive195You mean that group wearing the skin of Rocksteady and don't forget Sweet baby adding the gem on that polished terd of a game.
@@slartibartifastoverdrive195The current Rocksteady is just a shell of its former self. The founders and the old team that built the Arkhamverse have been long gone, making a new game company.
If you still by AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games you are the problem and deserver the garbage you get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Meanwhile Legends like Fromsoft(Bandai may be a problem though), Larian, and SO MANY AA and indie are doing things right, and I absolutely love the praise and attention those games are getting now.
Wow, first Warner Bros cancelled Coyote VS Acme, now we have Embracer Group cancelling games we were hoping to see the light of day. Is this what the entertainment and gaming industry coming to?
It appears so. Time to go underground again with indie.
It's the ultimate act of idiocy. These companies are so investment focused they forget that they are supposed to produce _entertainment,_ but the entertainment industry is one that requires experimentation and creativity in order to keep customers invested in their product. These corpos view experimentation and creativity as a _risk,_ which they despise because it _might_ result in lost profits. If you take out the risk you take out what makes entertainment worth investing in, but the corpos don't get that so they look at their projects and say "either produce something safe and mid or be destroyed" and then get confused when the surviving projects don't make them any money because they're not entertaining enough. They're caught in a loop where they spend money with no true profits made, except for what they can save by not paying their employees.
@@conspiracypanda1200 it should be noted that the investments are so substantial that they can forgo ACTUALLY releasing entertainment
This is what happens when you put suits and merchants at the top of companies that trade on creativity. The suits are some of the most boring people on the planet. They have no respect or passion for cinematography or videogames, and they do only what they know to do - make everything necessary to make a profit and push the share's value up. And that kills the creative aspect of those industries. Unfortunately, more and more such companies, are doing away with leadership from within the industry, and replacing them with suits who come from outside - we are entering a dark age of creativity and entertainment - and with AI on the horizon, it will get worse and worse.
Not only those. It looks like the entire "free" market is moving in that direction. :(
The Embracer group’s behavior is actually dangerous across more than video games. Embracer also owns Dark Horse Entertainment and Asmodee. So they can negatively impact film, comics, book publishing, international distribution, and tabletop gaming. It’s utterly terrifying to consider.
Most importantly, they own Gearbox
You know, _that_ Gearbox
How is it dangerous. They are letting go off unprofitable people and businesses. Those people can create their own studios and games if they are so great and profitable. The truth is that all the people who get angry about the current situation don’t offer solutions. Video game Development has gotten too expensive. The risks are too high. If that weren’t the case we would see far more success stories and companies in the industry founded by people who think like yourself.
@@raskolnikov6443reread your comment and just think for a little bit because you're stupidity is deafening
@@raskolnikov6443 So why not release any games? Where do they think the profit is supposed to come from if they keep cancelling every fucking game? These studios make games not iphones so ofcourse there's no money coming in if the supply keeps getting cut off by the higher ups.
It's like they're strangling someone and going "Why can't you breathe?"
They can? No. They will. This company (just like many others) have shown their priorities. They do not care about story telling or art. They only care about nickle and dimming every last penny out of you. It is best to completely ignore them and go for indie or developers like the one's from Baldur's Gate or Elden Ring. At least as long as the latter aren't affected by corporate greed. Chances are, they will sink in the far off future too.
Corporate greed is why modern games suck ass
That and the mindless consumers
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Particular Shareholders dominating the gaming market and they keep changing everything for the worst with their ESG requirements. Corporates want that money so they only focus on doing what the shareholders want. It's sickening
It's a mix of both, people buying them is what has led companies to believe they can shovel out shit because people will pay top money for it.
I blame players for buying bull crap. just like how paying to play online is literally just giving Sony Nintendo and Microsoft free money. This is why I stopped playing online Nintendo games, and why I switched to PC from console. im not giving playstation and Microsoft money to use the online services that they don't have anything to do with.
Except a lot of modern games are great too.
There needs to be a law that if a company lays off employees within the last 12 months, they are not allowed to give executive bonuses. Devs hire a ton of people to work on a game. It launches. They lay a shit load of people off. Then 6 months later the executives get a multi million dollar bonus for record profits.
Y'know, we used to see EA as the gold standard of terrible, they are still bad obviously, but nowadays, it's like everyone is one upping them in the worst way.
Tbf, EA seems to have learned to just keep quiet. They'll spew the occasional BS every now and then, but compares to what it was like some 10+ years ago, they seem to have learned that the less their executives speak in public, the less people seem to hate the company.
A lesson Yves Guillemot is in dire need of learning...
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
@@Spike2276 I suppose they’ve somewhat learned their lesson. It’s just they’re toning down the BS without completely eradicating it.
@@robertnapier624somewhat is a good summary. To be frank I’m not into sports games but from what I know they are the same games with a lot of mtx. But among flops, there was a few bright moments. I will just mentioned games I played: unravel 1 and 2 (I do not mind this being a small game if it is a good one and fairly priced), A Way Out (I was a bit disappointed by the ending but overall a good game, reasonably priced, huge commercial and financial success), It Takes Two (higher price but one can see the love and passion put into creation of levels and their design, also a big success), Jedi The Fallen Order (good game which performed above expectations).
Their subscription is the cheapest one on the market if someone can wait a year for a game to end up there.
At the same time they still make wrong calls like with Immortals of Aveum (85M production cost + 40M marketing cost). They still milk the sports game, I’m not a big fan of battlefield but 2042 had issues.
Meaning as a company EA is still not a good one. Not to mention the acquisitions, studios they killed, IPs they own and do nothing with them.
Embracer when they got THQ seemed like a new player, they released a few games and remakes fine. But with time it seems like they were biting more than they can chew. Supposedly to pump up the balloon and than sell for profit as gaming was growing market. They are now collapsing under their own weight. This is sad because of the people who will get fired, and for us as gamers as Embracer might sit on (supposedly $1B worth) IPs they will do nothing with just put them in the drawer. Which means we might not see new games from many IPs they own.
But budget game part of the industry needs a reset. Sadly many IPs might be buried with this process.
@@robertnapier624 Tell that to sports fans. Tell that to Sims fans. No toning down there, more like a status quo.
The Larian devs also called the industry out, it was great
Larian can’t stand that shameful shit
@@ricardohoang8452 and thats why they are revered as a Studio and Sven as a legend.
Meh
And what will it do? Absolutely nothing, larian studios will eventually end up like the rest I believe anyway
@@leonchristou1702 the good old reliable green goblins quote comes to mind
This puts the words said by Larian Studios at the SAME event into perspective. These people do NOT know how to make games or make money. Treat your people well and please the customers and money flows, it is not complicated. But this has become a societal problem not just in the game industry. So… put them out of business, they deserve nothing. Lets see how the shareholders like that.
Every action has an ebb and flow. While major publishers shutting down due to their shitty choices will result in more Baldur’s Gate 3 as opposed to Gollumlikes. Unfortunately that does result in hundreds of devs getting laid off. While I can hope they‘d be able to bounce back and work their dream projects. The reality is unemployment is scary and there will be some devs who unfortunately fall through the cracks.
Embracer is not a video game company, they're predators.
Worse. They’re an investment firm
We need a video game Community Chris Hansen one that won't cheat on his wife and create a really horrible RUclips channel
If the predators keep releasing games like Tomb Raider Remaster Collection then I can't complain.
@@WllKiedSnakepretty low bar would like a NEW Tomb Raider but that isn't happening
what type of predators exactly?
that can mean many things...
Imagine a butcher not caring about meat or a baker not caring about bread... That's so ridiculous. The shareholders are the least important thing in every good company.
Embracer Group is such a ironic name... Should have been called Dissolver Group
Embracer of death, or at least thats what ill start calling them by with bs that we hear every few months
You've heard of Devolver Digital, now get ready for Dissolver Digital
Or maybe destroyer group...
Embracer: "Our ultimate goal is to satisfy the shareholders."
Also Embracer: *Constantly cancels projects after sinking money into them, instead of releasing more products for sale to earn more money*
That’s just not true.
Embracer ain’t a video game company
It’s a investment company and it ruined itself and other companies under it
At this point, I’m just straight having a good times with indie games than grinding hours on soulless money hungry triple AAA live service craps in the modern days of gaming.
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Indies is where the fun/risk takin is at these days.
"Triple AAA" is a bit redundant way to say. Just say triple A, or AAA
@@LoganHunter82
ikr right
Lots of crap...but enough good games still come out even in triple AAA space. Helldivers 2....live service that came out and it's great.
There's a line I was reminded of with Bungie leadership being asked by their staff if they'd considered a pay cut to spare layoffs and were told they 'weren't that type of company'.
Alas, Iwata is praised for a reason.
What Iwata did was great but purely symbolical if you do the math.
@@raskolnikov6443 symbolism.
he made a huge mistake and he has to suffer for it, not his employees, that's what a good leader should do.
it's sad that he did not make it to the release of the switch to see that his new direction paid off.
@@Majinhero Him and many other Nintendo leaders including Miyamoto. Disagree on say, how Paper Mario is handled, but they knew it was better to have the developers than have some more cash in the bank.
It certainly isn't them all going 'we're not that kind of company' about it.
If your overruling principle is to maximize your shareholders value, then dont be surprised if the only type of investors you get are those who are only interessted in making as much money as quick as possible... a self fullfilling prophecy...
There are other types of investors? I’m under the impression hood game development is only possible if the company shields its creatives from the shareholders or shareholders aren’t a factor at all
@@saycap There are. They are just less numerous and their money in relation to the first type depends on if the first one's stupidity has yet to catch up with them
Corporate greed really ruins everything
All in the name of “maximizing shareholder value”.
The stock market is the debt market. It needs to be abolished.
"the stock market is a graph of rich people's feelings"
Someone finally said it
Yeah in USA they are legally required to focus on maximising shareholder profit, if they don't do EVERYTHING they can to do that they can be sued.
When a company enters the stock market is because there's something wrong with it. You don't give away pieces of your business if it is doing ok. There's a lot of huge and successful companies that are still private. And others that are in the stock market, but with the absolute majority of shares owned by a single person. The real problem is when the shares are spread among many investors.
@@arx3516 "Yeah in USA they are legally required to focus on maximising shareholder profit" - that is a common misconception. its not a legal requirement but heavily heavily incentivised by the shareholders
If the Embracer Group had just taken their capital, stuck it in long term stocks then their shareholders, the games industry and gamers in general would all have been a lot better off, the leadership of that company have been an absolute disaster for everything they have touched. Gamers don't want investment, gamers deserve commitment...
Their problem is that bought up so much in such a short time, they were hoping that their oil baby would pay for it.
Embracer isn't in it for the customers, I am genuinely confused why people would expect anything other than this outcome for a company with shareholders. They didn't invest their money because the love games, the IPs or care about gamers, it's because they percieved the ability to cut expenses while maintaining similar quantity of outputs that people will still buy, and gamers are nothing if not predictable regarding name brand loyalty. That's why microtransactions won't ever go away - the minority who complain about them is just worth less money than the people who spend on them.
@@iamjustkiwiat least they release most of their games DRM free. One of the last corporations in the industry left. It’s why I am always glad when they release a game I like and I usually can get it on GOG. That’s far more pro consumer than what 90% of the industry offers.
With all the downs embracer has, they are still one of the better people in the whole industry. Alone the fact that the top brass did take cuts themselves is enaugh for me to be still optimistic. The gaming sphere can not loose embracer, else everything is gonna end up in the real cutthroat hands of Msft, Sony and Tencent.
A deal fell through. It's unfortunate. Is what it is.
Embracer Group is that drunk friend that gets you into a fight, promises to have your back, and then when the fight starts he runs away and telling you that he’s going to go back to the bar and get help. Then, after you get beaten up, you go back and he’s sitting chatting to some girl, too drunk to remember what he was doing, or that he was the one that started the fight in the first place.
How is borrowing a bunch of money, buying out profitable studios, and laying everyone off, “maximizing shareholder value?” Isn’t your shareholder value going to take a nose dive when the market figures out you have destroyed the real value of these studios? Seems more like maximize shareholder value until you get your bonus and then drop this dumpster fire of a company on someone else’s lap while you jump ship with your golden parachute.
Wild to me that Embracer basically went from one billionaire's desire to revive game franchises he liked, to being what it is today.
Went from promises of revival to ensuring they stay completely dead
austerity has never worked, ever. you can't cut off your hand to heal a papercut on your finger.
what does this have to do with austerity? I'd say it would do them some good if they spent less money but did it more wisely
I still am devastated by the cancellation of the Deus Ex game.
I hope the IP gets bought by someone else that will treat it better.
I feel the same way but with Timesplitters 4. Any company getting bought up by embracer is effectively a death sentence.
its laughable at this point bcuz embracer admitted to axing the studio DURING the developing process. its like when will they learn? i hope that game somehow comes out and rubs embracer noses.
I really don't understand what Embracer trying to do. Out of nowhere they bought a lot of developers + IP in a short time but then suddenly they just lay off thousands of employees and cancelled many project in development? Fkin nuts.
They're basically acting like a private equity firm where they buy up assets only to either saddle them with debt or do the worst cost cutting imaginable. Look up what a "leveraged buyout" is and how that caused businesses like Toys 'R Us to go bankrupt and out of business. This is classic vulture capitalism but instead of buying up distressed businesses Embracer is like "oh you can't do geometric growth and double/triple our initial investment? Shut it down!" Financial grifters like Embracer and private equity should be illegal to operate.
Wouldn't be surprised if Embracer Group becomes the next Gamigo. A publisher holding onto IPs, long after their prime, & milking for what ever money they can squeeze out of them before shutting the game down.
There was actually a plotpoint in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth that involves company layoffs. It came at a surprisingly good time with a lot of company layoffs happening. Where SPOILER!!!! Ichiban Kasuga became unemployed due to him being layed off from the company he worked for Hello Works. With a game mechanic in the game being scrounging for supplies. It is quite reflective of the cruel world of company layoffs
Except there is a difference between what happened in Infinite Wealth and what Embracer Group is doing. The latter is letting people go because of a false belief it will save them money and increase profits. Ichiban was framed to make it look like he was using his job as a front for the yakuza, resulting in Hello Works letting him go so as to not suffer from the backlash the frame-up created.
@@TheLyokoWarriorsof course it will save them money and increase their profits. They are shutting down the least profitable studios and least promising (financially) projects.
Has the Embracer group actually released a successful game? I constantly hear about them buying studios and IP. Then firing everyone. Have they seen any return on investment?
This HAS to result in new laws and regulations, companies shouldn't just be able to acquire studio after studio without demonstrating that they can handle it.
Really working hard to compete with ActiBlizzard and Ubisoft for most lothed company.
Loathed*
Don’t forget EA.
The world is really crumbling when EA isn't in the top 3 worst companies...
I remember mister Iwata took a paycut when the Wii U wasn't going well. Not a thing we see enough.
Nintendo isn’t a shining beacon anymore, however their games still clearly show that they have different priorities than most AAA publishers nowadays
Even Iwata passed, the current CEO still raised salary to every employee. So, at least, management still has some backbone.
Tencent owns 30% of Larian Studios so technically they have 1 shareholder.
Got a link for that?
Moral of the story. Don't spend money you don't have! Especially when we're talking billions!
Moral of the story: if you’re an independent studio stay the hell away from any company with shareholders
@@saycapgame development has gotten too expensive. People love to complain but don’t offer any solutions. Why are these studios all bought up by these big public corporations? Because these studios are in a precarious position anyways and would probably have to shut down otherwise.
Like Warhorse studios. Their game Kingdom Come deliverance (budget of around 40 million) was a huge financial risk and securing investment took them many years. Luckily for them it paid off and the game sold decently but they decided to join Embracer anyways. Why? Because their biggest investor didn’t want to invest in the sequel and if one project fails the life’s of the people running the studio is ruined and they are in huuuuge debt. It’s just way too risky.
Or make sure you close the deal.
@@raskolnikov6443 Fair. However, many AAA and AA games today have extremely inflated costs due to overproduction and focus on graphical fidelity, and end up not being fun experiences but more like half-baked tech demos. If your company just makes flop after flop I’d argue that then falls on the creative directors and marketing doing something wrong than anything else. It’s totally possible to start small with a team of ~3-5 people and make something amazing that people love, and expand scope from there. Trying to make something huge and expansive that doesn’t have a tested formula or audience is a recipe for failure, and you’re relying on investor security because your product isn’t refined. Plenty of indie titles that blew up in the last few years have had only a small amount of people and budget, they just made smart decisions.
I hope this company is ready to Embrace the hate
They don’t care
"Embrace deez nuts"
Ok, Yong, you've earned my like. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Amazing, I thought EA and Activision were masters at earning player discontent, but Embracer is speedrunning its way to the top.
There's a phrase for this kind of anti-consumer behaviour: Ensh**ification
The game: Video Game Dev. The category: Approval Low%
The idea of shareholder value is one of the biggest economic crimes committed against people. This idiotic concept has caused incalculable damage to the economy and people lives. The sickest part is most shareholders and stock holders don't even benefit from maximizing shareholder value, most people loose money in the stock market, the one who benefit most are the executives who are given free shares. Their wealth increases when stocks go up, they get more money in dividends, they can use their shares a collateral to get loans to buy houses an yachts, and when they need to pay those loan payments they can sell shares they were given for free. Maximizing shareholder value is a scam to make a few already wealthy people even wealthier. In the long run in only damages companies, the economy and peoples lives.
What really irritates the crap out of me is that companies still havent figured out the winning formula. Its very simple.
Step 1: make quality products that make the consumer happy.
Step 2: sales increase due to happy consumers.
Step 3: increased profits due to increased sales.
Step 4: share holders are happy.
It's really simple. Make the consumer happy and ultimately you'll make share holders happy
Your logic is flawed. Shareholders are never happy. Whatever money you made isn't enough, because there's always more that could have been made.
Shareholders view return in their investments in the same way a game publisher sees your time when they launch a live service: bottomless and belonging to them in it's entirety.
To be honest, is not that simple.
1) what is a quality product? Generic Live Service Online on crap or a one done game that might not resonate with the gamers who have acquired taste.
2) sales is random, not every game is destined to sell like hot cake.
3) problem of 2
4) Shareholders are profit driven and profit now, future profit means nothing to them. Now or get lost.
Is not as simple.
Steal underpants!
Shareholders want infinite growth in a finite world
Aka impossible
@@ringring8938 Technically it is as simple as OP said, as long as you're not overestimating your product.
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are good examples: one flopped initially because it released on a market without much interest in it, but Bandai saw that there was a very particular market of western gamers that craved something like it, and thus they cut a deal with Sony to become Fromsoft's publisher. When it came time for Dark Souls, both From and Bandai knew their market was niche, and thus the game and marketing were budgeted accordingly, and a large part of it's target audience learned of it by word of mouth instead of big marketing pushes.
Of course this story eventually snowballs into the titan that was Elden Ring, but i feel that Elden Ring is the outlier of the story, because Fromsoft's meteoric rise to fame was truly unpredictable, but everything before it was clearly measured and made to an audience they knew was interested.
That’s quite an achievement, considering that we live in a world where EA exists. That’s crazy.
People seem to still be cheering for mergers and big buy outs, like Microsoft buying Activision ....they still don't get it that more consolidation into the hands of mega-corporations is not a good thing. When all the power and creativity is concentrated in the hands of a few entities those entities have massive potential for damage
Didn't think anyone would best EA for being the most hated videogame company _😂😂_
The gaming industry is in a dire state! It’s unfreaking believable that the state of the gaming industry is this bad, all physical media is becoming endangered, and all art in the industry is becoming endangered!
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Its not that bad. Just buy games that worth your money.
Spoken like someone who hasn't dipped their toes in the AA and indie scene.
Still waiting for the video about Sega paywalling NG+ in Like a Dragon: Infinte wealth
Probably an NDA situation there due to his voice acting arrangement, sadly...
This kind of thinking and this kind of leadership can kill the industry.
I'm not a developer, but if I understand correctly a cancelled proyect also kicks you because all the time an effort spent in coding, drawing, etc. Goes to the trash, because as no product will ship, plus whatever NDA clauses you have in your contract, now you got nothing to to add to your resume.
It sucks they were relying on the $2 billion deal from Saudi and committed to everything but after it fell through so many people will be layed off, years wasted, franchises and studios damaged to destroyed. I get they probably have no money but it really sucks and them not carrying about anyone besides themselves despite it being completely their incompetent mistake is disgusting
the same thing happened with movie industry. corporate execs trying to dictate the creatives and come up with the worst product known to man (madame web, star wars prequel, etc)
I hope we start paying more attention to indie movies and indie games. with all the big studios in the grasp of the corpo execs, we can support indie studios
Well good luck on that it won’t be easy
Disgusting how the employees were treated. They should sue the company.
This feels like a hostage situation. Embracer is murdering games and studios that they have bought and it’s like they are saying to us: “if you don’t buy our games the same thing could happen to your favourite games too.” Just disgusting…
Embracer is the touch of death.
The signature on the contract selling to corpos is the mark of death.
Glad I experienced gaming in the 80's and 90's, where we didn't read about stuff like this. I'm sure it existed in one form of another, but the scale in which this happens today is unprecedented.
This is the first time I've ever seen a company, in the games industry or otherwise, admit that shareholders take precedents above everything else. Yeah, we've all known the growing trend, but most companies try to at least hide it to mask up their reputation. Embracer says "we don't have reputation anymore so fuck it, shareholders are first and for most". What a garbage company!
They don't understand games. They're trying to apply "business" logic to it.
Someone save Legacy of Kain please 😔
I never thought the day that a video game company outright Embracer dethroned EA Games crown of the most hated/worst video company in the world. This has been such a serious battle on who is the most hated game company of all time.
Dat sweet Swedish management :^)
At least the CEO still gets a fat cheque for having the same effect as an elementary student
Amirite🥴
Why the hell are their not laws that punish business for withdrawing from deals like this when you can basically destroy your competitors by saying I'll give you money and then just backing out of the deal later.
Corporations are not human. There are only 2 words that register, profit and loss.
They certainly embrace the idea of executing studios because they don't know how to manage acquisitions and ethics and relationships and so on with their studios
Embracer is just a poison.
Developers should get to own the IP if it gets cancelled or paused for a set duration. Having worked on it for 5 months or more regardless if they've been layed off.
sadly, thats just not how the world works, it be nice though cause then all games would have a nice safety net
It sucks seeing Embracer go from 100 to 0 so quickly. Hard to believe they'd hedge their bets one one big deal like that. This is why you don't gamble, people.
As far as admitting their number priority is to maximize shareholders profits goes, people ask for this lind of transparency from companies until they get it
Like comparing McDonald’s to the heart attack grill. They’re both doing the same thing ones just publicly honest
Usually because they're disgusted by the mentality that tends to run businesses.
Sounds like the AAA industry needs a BBB investigation. Seriously, how is there not legal consequences for purposely running a company this egregiously? Flat out no competence from the CEO to even try to have its employees’ livelihoods as even an after thought.
Because so many people still have the “games are a waste of time” mentality. So they believe that looking into these developers is a waste of time. It’s that simple.
Damn they got called out on stage.
lol I remember when everyone thought these guys were going to bring balance to the force. 😂
they did
by killing all the jedi
Can't complain. Their Tomb Raider Remasters a very good from Aspyr and Saber Interactive.
@@WllKiedSnake The a.i retextures, come-with-engine skybox and effect assets could literally be done by a single modder. This was an easy cash grab. As this video shows, they are not interested in anything above that.
@@-castradomis-1773 That's funny as the people behind the Tomb Raider Remasters are modders who were brought on to remaster the first three Tomb Raiders because their work was so good. And it turned out very well!
see what happens when gaming companies are run by MBAs instead of Passionate people about gaming😂 same as other industries
Tbh if you ask me, video games industry is like a canary in the mines. Pretty soon if the economy doesn't improve, it's gonna get like this everywhere
The worst part of this is them holding those cancelled ips hostage…
Embracer Group cancelling 29 games, and then laying off over a thousand people for it, how is that right? Embracer Group doesn’t have to lay off people if they would just stick to developing these IPs and releasing them. There has to be a way to punish leadership for bad management, wasting millions of dollars to develop games and then turning around and canceling them, thats not the Devs fault, the gaming industry seems to only lay off the devs, but not the Executives and CEOs who ultimately made the stupid decisions anyways.
Comments like this make me realise a lot of people really don't know what caused Embracer to do this. Embracer had a 2 billion investor deal coming up, so they started buying up interesting IPs before said deal was closed. The deal fell through at the last moment. So right now they're in a massive debt. That's why they're cancelling projects and laying off staff. They can't just stick to developing ALL projects BECAUSE of the debt. They went all in on their gamble and lost, that sucks big time. Especially knowing the Deus Ex sequel got cancelled AGAIN.
Capitalism works guys. Socialism sucks. Don't you get it?
@@Fungluttonof course socialism sucks. You wouldn’t even have one AAA game under socialism. A much bigger problem are publicly traded companies not capitalism. You could have a capitalist system without it
Layoffs are happening everywhere. Not just Embracer Group.
@@WllKiedSnake I know, it’s happening all over the gaming industry, but the video was about Embracer Group, and so that who we are talking about.
its funny when they say " our overruling principle is to maximize shareholder value" considering history has shown that when you piss off your customers, and get rid of yoru talent, the value of your shares goes down, to maximize the profit for your shareholders, you need to make games that players want, you need to make your customers happy, by keeping your talent happy and working, and making your customers happy, you in turn keep the value of the shares high
With that much failure in the company, the CEO should be the first one to be fired.
Except from the shareholders perspective he is a great success. Do you think they invested because they care about gamers?
If anything they will give him a raise, hes doing what it's his job to do...
@@iamjustkiwi not neccesarily, if his job is to make money, all he is doing is spending it, I dont think investors will stick around for long.
@@tommyllama4558exactly, he gains funds, buys the company, gaining value, then proceeds to mismanage everything and lose money, fire everyone until the company is just a shell (thus losing its value) but they maintain the IP's which they cant do anything with, because they fired everyone!
@@tommyllama4558I watched their latest briefing and I do think there is a good chance he will make them a lot of profit.
@@tommyllama4558they are getting rid of their worst performing studios. That’s part of making the company profitable.
As weird as this sounds I am rather glad that EG was blunt about putting investors first. I have gotten so tired of being pissed on and being told that it's raining by gaming companies for years.
Ya know, Looking back, EA isn't so bad in comparison to Embracer games, who are gutting their own potential for greatness
Same
Thats like saying a serial killer is not as bad as a mafia hitman.
Sims4 enters the chat
Just wait, EA will try to win that record again.
well one does it for money and the other just enjoys the pain and suffering of others so yesit might be a fitting comparison@@xandan1668
If your number 1 priority is the shareholders and investors, just make good games, invest a few years in them, don't close companies, don't lay off people.
Maybe you have less money now, but you get huge earnings in a few years.
Sorry to say this. But that's not how irl works, instant profit or you take tens of millions of losses immediately. Making games is actually a huge gamble. Square Enix have tried and failed, they couldn't recoup from these studio development.
The CEO do not think of the wellness of they company they work for, they only think of themselves. Why screw themselves over when they can screw everyone else, after all if the company folded they can simply go elsewhere. AI are better CEO than human CEO cause they cannot leave and have stiffer management, plus you only need to maintain the Management server.
Do you think the gaming industry would be in the state it's in now if it cared for long term profits over short term?
Just look at how hard they pushed pre-order culture in the 2000s, when we had whole missions or pieces of content slashed from games and given piecemeal to different retailers as pre-order bonuses. All in the name of guaranteeing a sale before your product even exists.
Unfortunately investors and shareholders and the c-suite execs are only interested in the next quarter, long-term thinking isn't even a brain fart much less a philosophy
If they were interested in long-term stable growth then your idea would be valid, but that's not the world we live in
Don't you see the flaw in your own logic? Why should they bother doing good games if they wanna satisfy their shareholders in the first place? Shareholders don't care about good games, gamers do! However, their desires clearly don't matter. Shareholders only care about quick cash which requires easy strategies. You can't do good games with easy strategies. High quality products require time and effort. Neither Embracer nor their shareholders have patience for that. Time is money, so they wanna invest as little of it as possible for as big of a short-term profit as possible as the end result. The aftermath of that genius endeavor we're witnessing now. And it's way too late to make a 180, so they might as well just stick to their ruinous business practices till the bitter end. The suits responsible for this disaster are all gonna be fine anyway. It's only the employees that gonna pay the ultimate price for this lunacy. No biggie. The most important thing remaining is keep the shareholders happy, no one else.
No studio should so openly consider selling their rights to the devil unless the ceo is also a greedy corporate bastard. When you sell to a public company, you are signing your death certificate.
I don't understand how they can "please shareholders" when they cancel games and are closing studios. Where are their sales?
Well, at least Embracer Group is honest.
29 UNANNOUNCED GAMES?!
Jesus Christ, that’s like an entire console generation’s worth of releases.
I'm worried because Embracer owns Warhorse studios who made Kingdom come deliverance, I'm worried about the sequel
What? Noooo!
@@philipsalama8083yes they bought them a few years ago
That might be one of the 29 games that got canceled.
Thank you for this video, I had no idea this was happening at all.
Who? Last I checked, EA still had that crown. They gotta be really bad to even try and take that award from EA.
Bruh ea lost the crown to ubi a while back tf you on?
Both lost the crown to blizzard, greedy and terrible
Nah, mate, ActiBlizz had that trophy for three years straight.
How big is the rock you live under? Is there room for rent?
@@adityaunnava4304Yeah considering according to Joshscoucher during his 10 fails of 2023 last year EA actually behaved.
never knew who greg miller was until seeing him on the FPS podcast last week we need more people like him in this industry guys got balls to say what were all thinking regardless of who the audience is
Pleasepleaseplease someone buy Crystal Dynamics. I couldn't survive the death of Tomb Raider if that studio gets shuttered.
Yes, Embracer has so many Beloved IP's under them. At the moment, we're waiting with bated breath to see what the next Beloved IP will be Plowed Under Them.
I’m tired of companies gobbling up IP’s like it’s a golden goose then discarding the devs, the ones who made those IP’s, and then wondering why they’re not making money
Im sad that in 2024 people STILL believe any company that has shareholders will do anything other than produce the minimum viable product they can rely on their audience to still buy. Capitalism will NEVER result in a move towards increased quality, only the direction towards how much an audience will tolerate without abandoning the thing, and often they fail at even that.
Capitialism is not the issue here. It's having a publicly listed company in the first place, where accountability shifts from consumers to shareholders. All the best games ever made have been made by capitilism. You're poorly mistaken if you think any other economic model outputs better games.
@@danielthecritic88 capitalism necessitates publicly listed companies. Also you're really showing your ass when you say I am implying anything about other economic models, all I did is point out that this is what capitalism requires. This system doesn't need you out here playing defense for it 🫢
How can your newly acquired studio and IP assets mean anything when all the talent behind them is gone? Embracer cut a check for names alone
At embracer group ceo means chief executions officer
It was funny when Embracer was buying misused IPs, because we all thought someone might finally DO something with them.
The biggest fuck up was them relying on the deal with the one group going through
Im not great with buisness and even i can see that was such a stupid idea
That second part wasnt in the broadcast... Lolol 😂 the CEO CLONES face was epic
They're challenging Game Mill for king shit.
I will never understand why publishers buy out dev studios just to fire most of the staff and/or turn around and shut then down, like, two seconds later. If you don't have the money to maintain a studio, why are you buying it???
This is one of the reasons I like to play lots of early access and Indie games :D Far more likely to get a passion project with fun gameplay :D Just run the risk of them being abandoned, shovel wear or asset flips :D
Those who still buy AAA (or AAAA, f**k you Ubisoft) games are the problem and deserver the garbage they get at this point.
Honestly I'm actually starting to understand these big publishers now.. if morons are so willing to give up their money so easily for trash.. they would be stupid not to take advantage.
Like if fish kept jumping into your net even if you put them back.. you would be a fool not to eat them.
Well said Yong thank you!