Embracer Group, a Swedish holding company, is continuing its quest to own every single video game studio. All of them. Embracer has already acquired port studio maker Aspyr Media, Borderlands franchise owner Gearbox, and Metro developer 4A Games, and raised almost a billion dollars to continue its mad spending spree.
And to that end, Embracer has announced eight more studios are in the process of joining the Embracer collective. Those eight studios are:
- CrazyLabs, an Israel-based studio specializing in mobile titles like Super Stylist.
- Ghost Ship Games, the Danish studio behind the successful Deep Rock Galactic.
- Easy Trigger, the Swedish developer behind indie shooter Huntdown.
- Force Field, a leading VR development studio and makers of Landfall, Time Stall, and Coaster Combat.
- Digixart, the French developer making Road 96.
- Slipgate Ironworks, another Danish developer/publisher and one of the names behind Ghostrunner.
- Grimfrost, an e-commerce specialist with a line of Viking-themed merchandise.
- 3D Realms, makers of the cult classic Duke Nukem franchise.
Embracer is still in the process of acquiring all eight studios for the total price of around $313 million USD, a purchase it says is "aligned with Embracer’s growth strategy and is enabled by the group’s decentralized operating model."
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Of all of them, Embracer seems most excited about CrazyLabs, which will work with Deca Games to form a "sizable, scalable and cash generative mobile business with a solid outlook for organic growth as well as a platform for acquisitions going forward." Slipgate is working on several projects with both Saber Interactive and THQ Nordic, while Ghost Ship, Easy Trigger, and 3D Realms bring all their great IP to the group.
With just over $300 million spent, Embracer still has plenty of money left for even more acquisitions. We wouldn’t be surprised to hear of another buying blitz later this year.