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Embracer $2bn partnership fell apart due to outside factors

Embracer $2bn partnership fell apart due to outside factors

The $2 billion strategic partnership that Swedish games giant Embracer Group was set to ink but fell apart did so due to outside factors.

That's according to CEO Lars Wingefors, who told investors – as reported by Seeking Alpha – that the yet unnamed party pulled out to "other decisions impacting" them.

"I think it was nothing against the transaction itself," Wingefors told one investor.

"I think there was a strong message that it made perfectly sense. So, it was other decisions impacting them than the agreement itself and our work in this. And obviously, it was some kind words that when things changes in the world or for them, but I don't think it's right this morning to send that kind of positive things now. I think now we just need to deal where the ball is, and let's see if that could be."

The CEO reiterated this to another investor: "Well, it was nothing to the commercial terms. They were already agreed and everything was done, ready to go. And the feedback, there is a strong belief in the deal on both sides. So, the decision is external factors from this transaction."

This partnership not materialising, as well as several triple-A projects being delayed as a result, resulted in Embracer Group's share price dropping by 44 per cent.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.