Restructuring, Atari Investment and CEO Change to Bring Back Success

The Board of Directors of the Thunderful Group wants to get the company back on track with a series of measures. These include cost reductions and fresh capital from Atari. In addition, a change of CEO is planned and an extraordinary general meeting has been scheduled.

The Swedish Thunderful Group has been battling through stormy waters for some time now. Now, the Board of Directors wants to turn things around with a whole series of measures. Thunderful Group has announced a restructuring plan aimed at reducing costs and improving operating cash flow.

According to the company, the measures are expected to save around SEK 6 to 8 million in the second half of 2025 and a further SEK 40 to 45 million in 2026. At current exchange rates, this amounts to around 550K to 720K euros in 2025 and 3.5 to 4 million euros in 2026. The savings are to be achieved through staff cuts affecting the publishing unit, the development studios and other group-wide services. No further details were provided.

One personnel change has already been announced: CEO Martin Walfisz will leave Thuderful by the end of the year at the latest. According to the Board of Directors, a transition procedure has been agreed with him. Walfisz has agreed to step down from his position as soon as a successor has been found, but no later than 31 December 2025. The search for a successor has already begun. As a third measure, the Thunderful board has also announced the issue of new shares, which should bring fresh capital into the coffers. According to the company, this involves a sum of SEK 50 million, around £4.5 million. The investor is the French company Atari.

However, the investment via the issue of shares requires a resolution by Thunderful's shareholders. An extraordinary general meeting has been convened for 28 August, at which the plans will be put to a vote, along with a proposal for the election of new board members.

According to Thunderful, the two largest shareholders, Owe Bergsten and Brjann Sigurgeirsson, who together hold 29.9 per cent of the shares, have already approved the plan.

Last but not least, an important agreement has also been reached with Danske Bank, Thunderful's largest lender. The bank is granting an extension of granted revolving credit facility of 10.5 million euros that would have expired at the turn of the year. The Extension Agreement is conditional on the Directed Share Issue being completed and secures Thunderful a credit facility of 8 million euros, which will be gradually reduced.

Thunderful was an expansive Swedish gaming group for many years, acquiring Headup Games and Studio Fizbin from Germany, among others. After running into financial difficulties, there were several waves of job cuts and restructuring. Former Headup founder Dieter Schoeller bought his company back out of the group. Studio Fizbin also explored various solutions, but announced at the end of March that it would winding down operations after the release of its latest project, Reignbreaker.

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