Gothic Remake and Titan Quest 2 to Be Released by the End of March 2025 and Recap of Embracer's Last Fiscal Year

The Embracer Group plans to release 70 games this year, including the remake of Gothic and Titan Quest 2 - both from THQ Nordic. Compared to last year, the Swedish group has over 4,500 fewer employees. Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning fall short of expectations.

THQ Nordic will release the remake of Gothic and Titan Quest 2 by the end of March 2025, according to the Embracer Group's annual report. The Gothic remake is being developed by Alkimia Interactive in Spain, rather than Piranha Bytes. Titan Quest 2 is being developed by Grimlore Games in Munich. The studio, which was established by THQ Nordic in December 2013 and was responsible for SpellForce 3 and its add-ons. In total, the group plans to release more than 70 games in the current fiscal year (FY2024/25). The biggest expectations are for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II from Plaion and Killing Floor 3 from Tripwire Interactive. Both games are expected to sell at the same level as Remnant II and Dead Island 2. Dead Island 2 sold over 3 million units and reached over 7 million players (Xbox Game Pass). Remnant II sold over two million units by the end of 2023. Other major releases included Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (THQ Nordic), Hyperlight Breaker (Arc Games) and at least three other major unannounced releases.

Looking back at the company's last quarter (beginning of January to end of March 2024), Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning fell short of management's expectations. Both THQ Nordic games were well received by users, but received mixed reviews from critics. South Park: Snow Day! had a mixed reception but performed in line with expectations. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection received mostly negative user reviews, but performed in line with management expectations. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was well received and performed ahead of expectations. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor exceeded expectations and Lightyear Frontier performed well in line with management expectations.

Lars Wingefors, Co-founder & Group CEO: "We remain excited about our PC/Console pipeline over the coming years. Our resources within PC/Console are increasingly focused towards our own and controlled key IPs, such as Darksiders, Dead Island, Deep Rock Galactic, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Killing Floor, The Lord of the Rings, Metro, Remnant, Satisfactory, Tomb Raider, Wreckfest and many others."

Recap of Embracer's Last Fiscal Year

In the FY from April 2023 to March 2024, net sales increased by twelve per cent to SEK 42,206 million (one per cent organic growth), approximately 3.65 billion Euros. The breakdown of sales by operating segment is as follows:

• PC/Console Games increased by seven per cent (34 per cent of total net sales)
• Mobile Games increased by two per cent (14 per cent of total net sales)
• Tabletop Games increased by 13% per cent (35 per cent of total net sales)
• Entertainment & Services increased by 34 per cent to (17 per cent of total net sales)

EBIT amounted to SEK -20,519 million, approximately 1.77 billion Euros. This was impacted by the divestments of Saber Interactive and Gearbox Entertainment, the restructuring programme and the annual impairment test. Adjusted EBIT increased by 12 per cent to SEK 7,063 million (approximately 611 million Euros), giving an adjusted EBIT margin of 17 per cent.

At the end of March 2024, Embracer Group employed 12,069 people, 4,532 fewer than a year earlier. Since the start of the restructuring programme, the company has dismissed 1,583 employees. Approximately 3,000 employees left the group following the sale of Saber Interactive. "The partial sale of Gearbox is expected to close in the first quarter ending June 30, and the company has yet to finalize the divestment of Digic and Mad Head, two of the subsidiaries included in the Saber deal," is to be read the report. In Q4, mainly unannounced projects were written off, mainly within Crystal Dynamics - Eidos and THQ Nordic.

It is known that the group will be split into three parts. The first spin-off will be Asmodee (tabletop games) in the current financial year, followed by "Coffee Stain & Friends" (working title) in calendar year 2025. The current Embracer Group will then become "Middle-Earth Enterprises & Friends" (working title).

Never miss anything from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry again: subscribe for free to our Daily newsletter and get all news straight to your inbox.