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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Andy Chalk

Newly-minted Saber Interactive boss says Embracer CEO 'gets a bad rap' for massive layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations

Lars Wingefors official photo.

There is probably no company more emblematic of the workplace chaos that's gripped the videogame industry than Embracer. After rapidly expanding into a gaming behemoth, the studio went off a cliff in 2023 after the collapse of a planned $2 billion investment deal with Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group. But Matthew Karch, CEO of the newly spun-off Saber Interactive, believes Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors "gets a bad rap" for all the layoffs and studio closures that followed, saying in an interview with GamesIndustry that in reality, "nobody has been guided by more of a sense of fairness and reasonableness."

Embracer acquired Saber Interactive in 2020, making Karch—formerly the CEO of Saber—a member of its board. In 2023, Karch took over as Embracer's chief operating officer, and then in 2024 founded a company called Beacon Interactive that acquired most of Saber Interactive from Embracer in March.

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