It’s time for another MMO and multiplayer fiscal report, this time coming from Embracer Group, the company that owns Gearbox Publishing, which owns Cryptic Studios and its MMORPGs along with other gaming studios. Readers might also know Embracer as the company that lost a $2B business deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, which saw the company’s stock nosedive on the news and begin a restructuring campaign with layoffs and game cancellations.
Embracer’s fiscal Q1 23/24 results are now in and it would seem as if its moves are bearing fruit while its newer releases are standing up: Net sales went up 47% year-on-year to $947M, with PC and console games earning 74% more than last year, while mobile gaming went down by 3%. The improvement in sales is being attributed to the release numbers of Dead Island 2 and Remnant 2, with the former selling 2 million copies in its first four months and the latter selling 1 million copies in its first four days.
As for the company’s restructuring, that has helped Embracer to hit its pace to lower net debt down to $729M by the end of the fiscal year; its net debt by the end of June 30th was at $1.5B. “A painful consequence of the program is that a number of talented and passionate team members have left us or will be leaving us before the end of the financial year,” remarks CEO Lars Wingefors. “We understand and respect that this is a challenging time for everyone impacted.”
For those wondering about the MMOs, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter are both listed among Embracer’s top back-catalogue games, which is impressive given that Embracer owns close to 150 game studios and an absurd number of games. Then again, Valheim also made the top 10, though it has yet to fully launch.
