Embracer says remasters, remakes of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex are likely

Embracer Group sent its full-year financial report out to investors today, and it’s shed some light on what it wants to do with its newly acquired North American studios: Square Enix Montreal, Crystal Dynamic, and Eidos Montreal. These studios have been steward for several successful video game brands over the last couple of decades, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain.

It’s no surprise that Embracer bought these studios to cash in on that IP, but it is interesting that the company is publicly committing to the promise of “remakes, remasters, spinoffs as well
as transmedia projects” based on these games. Remakes and remasters have been a growing staple of different game publishers’ portfolios, as they allow companies to introduce new studios to a franchise, restore classic games to the video game market, and of course, profit from player nostalgia.

All that revenue would pile on nicely with the cash Embracer earned in the last fiscal year ending on March 31, 2022. In that year, it earned about SEK 17.03 billion ($1.7 billion) about in net sales (up 89 percent from the year before). In the fourth quarter ending on the same date, it earned SEK 5.28 billion in net sales (up 117 percent from the same quarter a year prior).

Embracer doesn’t report net income, preferring instead to share its Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization results (EBITDA). Its EBITDA rose 54 percent year-over-year to SEK 6.1 billion, a chunk of that money coming from its fourth-quarter results, where EBITDA rose 26 percent to SEK 1.6 billion.

The company says its growth comes in part due to the vast number of acquisitions it executed in the last year, which have included Borderlands developer Gearbox, Dark Horse, Easybrain, and Asmodee. 

How will Embracer Group do in the next year? It’s projecting an operational EBITDA of roughly SEK 9.2 billion to SEK 11.3 billion. which will be impacted by royalties from Tiny Tina’s Wonderland and revenue from the release of the Saints Row reboot.