Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Embracer Group was forced to halt its breakneck pace of acquisitions after a mysterious partner left a $2 billion deal intended to drive its continued gaming ambitions. Now, we might know who the partner is: Axios reported today that Savvy Games Group is the party that backed out of the deal in May. Savvy is owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund and is the vehicle through which the Middle Eastern country funnels investments in the video games industry.
After the deal blew up, Embracer announced it was “restructuring” and that it would shut down or sell studios and pause some game development. In a filing, the group said it expects to finish that process on October 1st and has already begun its studio pruning.
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