Developers New World Interactive and 4A games join the fold of Swedish gaming giant
A few days after their Q1 financial report, the Swedish video game holding company Embracer Group announced their acquirement of New World Interactive, 4A Games, Palindrome Interactive, Deca Games, and other video games and multimedia companies.
“We’re simply delighted to join,” said New World Interactive CEO Keith Warner. He outlined the opportunity Embracer has given them with access to their publishing, development, and marketing resources. Thanks to the massive infrastructure Embracer has in place; Warner feels the resources allotted to them will aid in growth and scale.
During their report, Embracer was excited to highlight a substantial rise in sales under their Games business area. According to them, net game sales increased by 153% to nearly $187 million – this accounts for over 78% of the $238 million in sales during the quarter company-wide.
The Embracer Group’s performance exceeded management expectations, according to the report. Embracer attributes the COVID-19 pandemic for the spike in demand for home entertainment. Embracer then praised their "long term organic growth" strategy of investing in new game development for the continued stability they've enjoyed despite a global pandemic.
They credit many titles for their success, such as Saints Row: The Third – Remastered, Deep Rock Galactic, and the early access availability of Satisfactory on Steam. “It is encouraging to see that our effort in putting quality first seems to pay off,” said Embracer. They also acknowledged the reduction of retail prices for their titles as a reason for high sales in their back catalog.
Looking ahead, Embracer is excited for the coming months now that they have “laid a solid foundation to make the fiscal year 2020/21 another stable growth year.” Using the quarter’s performance as a sign to proceed with their current strategy, Embracer is looking forward to “welcoming more entrepreneurs to the group,” and announced they were in discussions with a “handful of sizable companies.”
Judging from the report, it is safe to assume that the game studios mentioned above were among those in discussion with Embracer. They have high expectations for their new acquisitions seeing as their previous releases have done well to return decent investments.
With a huge conglomerate supporting the studios behind such titles as Insurgency and the Metro series of games, Embracer CEO and Co-Founder Lars Wingefors is looking forward to “our most exciting years [which] are still ahead of us.”
