The parent company of THQ Nordic and Koch Media, Embracer Group, intends to expand its video game empire. After 62 takeovers and 8 billion spent, the ogre will swallow up other studios.
We talk very regularly about takeovers of PlayStation and Xbox, but in its corner, Embracer Group is quietly building its empire. An expansion that will last because the company still has a strong appetite (and plenty of money to invest).
Embracer Group will acquire dozens of studios
In just two years, Embracer Group has become a European video game titan with 62 studio takeovers for $8.1 billion. This includes, for example, Gearbox (Borderlands), 4A Games (Metro) or Saber Interactive (World War Z). To diversify its activities, the company has also placed its marbles in the field of mobile with DECA Games, cinema and comics with the acquisition of Dark Horse Comics (which had opened a games and digital entertainment division).
But the Swedish conglomerate is still hungry, very hungry since CEO Lars Wingefors admitted to the Financial Times (interview relayed by VGC) that Embracer Group was going to a similar number of redemptions in the months and years to come. In the sights of the boss, businesses based in France, the United States, the United Kingdom and China. Only one prerequisite: to have already passed. At this point, the company has 115 development studios.
Measured risks, a desire for free-to-play
In terms of production scales, Embracer Group does a bit of everything in various genres, but wishes get into the free-to-play sector. The company currently has 216 games in the works, with more than 25 AAA planned by April 2026. That’s not too much? Not for Lars Wingefors.
If you can make a single play, then there is a big trading risk. But if you make 200 games like we do, the business risk is less.
The CEO has also said that he does not seek to have an interventionist approach with the studios. For him, when companies make their management more complex, it is “at that moment they fall apart”.
