Embracer is “Writing Down” 15 Upcoming Video Games – But What Does That Mean?

gameranx.com:

Embracer has revealed that they are writing down 15 of the video games they are working on.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, these said games are coming from Amplifier, Freemode, Gearbox, Plaion, Saber Interactive and THQ Nordic.

This is part of Embracer’s ongoing restructuring of the company, which they state will be ending by March 2024. Unfortunately, Embracer confirmed with investors that “further restructurings, closures, buyouts, are in process, and that will lead to additional headcount reductions.”

But first, let us briefly return to the idea of a write-down. What does that mean, and what does this choice mean for these video games?

To quote Investopedia, “A write-down is performed in accounting to reduce the value of an asset to offset a loss or expense. A write-down becomes a write-off if the entire balance of the asset is eliminated and removed from the books altogether.”

Investopedia then shares the example of a burned warehouse. If there are still goods in that warehouse that can be used after the fire, the company can write-down those assets. If nothing can be salvaged and the value of the items in the warehouse are down to zero, then the company can write-off those assets completely.

Applying that to Embracer, because the parent company is short of cash, it’s going to make up for it by taking money away from these 15 games. These games are not being cancelled, at least not yet. These write-downs will lead to these games becoming considerably smaller projects, with potentially shorter timeframes to complete, and also potentially less staff to work on them.

This doesn’t eliminate the possibility that these games could get cancelled sometime later. At least, for now, Embracer is saying these games are