Few companies are more emblematic of the workplace turmoil that has gripped the video game industry than Embracer. After a meteoric rise to gaming giant status, the studio was pushed off a cliff in 2023 when a $2 billion investment plan with Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group collapsed. However, Matthew Karch, CEO of the newly independent Saber Interactive, believes that Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors is "getting a bad rap" for all the subsequent layoffs and studio closures, In an interview with GamesIndustry, he said that in reality, "there is no one who is guided by a more fair and rational sense."

Embracer acquired Saber Interactive in 2020, making former Saber CEO Karch a member of its board of directors; in 2023, Karch became Embracer's chief operating officer, and in 2024, he founded a company called Beacon Interactive and in March acquired most of Sabre Interactive from Embracer.

"The process I had to go through to exit the studio was absolute. I mean, I still have stock, I still have close relationships and good friends, and obviously I would most like to see them succeed over there." But I would say Embracer has done more than anyone else to try to preserve as many jobs as possible."

Kirch said that the failed deal with Savvy Games Group forced Embracer to make "big changes," but he also noted that the factors often cited as contributing to layoffs and closures, such as rising interest rates making it harder to get financing and "a lack of patience with companies that had invested in video games for a long time. He also noted a "lack of patience with companies that had been invested in video games for a long time. Embracer's rising debt and falling stock price were also blamed on people "trying to take advantage of other people's misfortunes" through short sales, making it difficult to raise capital.

Interestingly, Kirch said that while Embracer did not really need to do business with Savvy Games Group, "there is pressure from the market for continued growth and rapid growth, and that kind of market pressure can affect how you perceive things and how you make decisions."

"It is true that when you are rapidly amassing so many assets, you have to take a deep breath and take stock of what you have. And when the market is supporting such frenetic growth and you're in a position to take advantage of it, I think it's hard not to take advantage of it." It's hard not to take advantage of strong stock prices and go out and buy assets."

I'm not a big CEO, so I can't speak with authority on this, but it seems to me that it is literally the CEO's job to accurately assess and judge the nature of his company and to resist the urge to go ham in the money truck when the price is high. And one would be hard-pressed to judge Wingforce's performance as anything more than "failed": he overextended his reach, he overextended the company, and now other players, including Karch, are picking up the rubble.

Of course, Mr. Wingeforth is not standing alone in this particular tire fire. Executives throughout the gaming industry were acting as if the rapid growth caused by staying home in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic was a permanent state, and that growth - incessant, relentless, bloodsucking growth - would continue to advance from its new baseline It was. [15] [16] Of course, that did not happen, and the wreckage left behind by that false assumption has thrown thousands of lives into turmoil. WingForce, which came under extra fire for the magnitude of the Embracer's downfall and its occasional inappropriate language about "maximizing shareholder value," seems to have recently learned to change its tone.

Following the recent sale of Gearbox to Take-Two Interactive, Wingefors announced that Embracer is "ending (its) restructuring program" and Karch is "bullish" on its future. 'I think they're a great company, and I think they're really great people. But last year was a stressful year, and it was a stressful year for me as well.