Embracer Group, a company no stranger to acquiring development studios left and right, just shared their Q2 2022 financials (PDF) with the world. As part of their reporting, Embracer shared that their sales have increased by 190% compared to Q2 2021. The company says that this success is due mostly to the studios that it picked up in the previous quarter.
Organic growth for the quarter was 35%. This increase was "primarily driven by new releases within PC/console" such as the Saints Row reboot. Embracer says that the (critical) reception of Saints Row "did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarized." Despite this, Embracer says that Saints Row "performed in line with management expectations in the quarter." Embracer also notes that the Saints Row reboot is actually "expected to generate a positive ROI" or return on investment. This typically means that the income pulled in from sales made up the cost that Embracer spent to have the game developed and published.
Despite meeting these financial expectations, Embracer has moved the Saints Row developer, Volition, over to Gearbox. Specifically, Embracer says that Gearbox "has all the tools, including an experienced management team in the US, to create future success at Volition." It is unclear how Volition will function under Gearbox, whether they will continue to make their own games or if they will be relegated to a support studio for Gearbox's own output.
Speaking of Gearbox, Embracer also revealed today that Gearbox now owns the Risk of Rain IP. This includes ownership of all of the previously released games that were brought to life by Hopoo Games. Gearbox's publishing division, aptly called Gearbox Publishing, was the publisher of Risk of Rain 2.
