Embracer Group net sales rise to $3.5bn in "challenging year"

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Embracer Group has published its financial results for the full year, showing growth in net sales across the board.

But despite the solid performance in terms of sales, co-founder and group CEO Lars Wingefors opened his comments by describing the 12-month period as a "challenging year" impacted by game delays, weaker demand from consumers and a "lackluster reception for certain notable releases."

One example given was the lower-than-expected return on investment for the Saints Row reboot.

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The biggest seller for the most recent quarter was SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake. While this initially performed below management's expectations, the company expects it to "have a long tail of revenue."

However, much of the company's growth – both for Q4 and the full year – came from its tabletop segment, led by Asmodee.

Full-year net sales for tabletop cames came in at SEK 13.1 billion ($1.2 billion, up 2,199%). Meanwhile, Entertainment and Services saw net sales of SEK 5.3 billion ($495.9 million, up 70%).

However, much of the financial report was dedicated to setting expectations for the years ahead.

Wingefors explained that as recently as last night, he and his team were informed that a major strategic partnership they had been negotiating for seven months will now not come to fruition – despite the fact Embracer received a verbal commitment back in October.

The deal would have included more than $2 billion in contracted development revenue over a six-year period and enabled catch-up payments for the costs created by a range of large-budget games.

Wingefors wrote that while the group has a solid pipeline of