[2023] GSG holding company Embracer announces restructuring program with massive layoffs, yet-to-be-determined studio closures expected

Just want to comment on this, before the hot takes roll in.

We do not expect that this will affect us, all things considered.

Edit: Also - please remember that Embracer is not structured like companies such as EA or ActiBlizz. From my own experience (and keep in mind that I have nothing to do with any of this - I just man the keyboard at Ghost Ship) Embracer has been incredibly hands-off after the acquisition of Ghost Ship Games. We've had opportunities, not limits. Coming from other parts of the industry I've seen and experienced preparations for going public while being expendable on a limited contract, and this just feels different. I could easily be wrong, and obviously, it's going to suck for people hit by the restructuring, but my fingers are crossed that my gut feeling holds up.

GSG is doing very well, so I personally can’t imagine a future where things go that bad.

We do, it's just not something you do lightly. Last year it wasn't recommended to upgrade if you had an actually released game but was more being pushed to developers working on something upcoming. Things might have changed, but we need a good reason to switch - a clear benefit of going through all the trouble of upgrading.

It prevents certain types of layoffs, at the very least.

Let me clear this up - Coffee Stain Holding owned a minor share of Ghost Ship Games. Not sure how it works by the books, but in the current Embracer setup we're a sister company to Coffee Stain.
It gets a bit confusing because there are companies owning companies with similar names, and with the acquisition, it might have ended up being easiest to put it under the same company, but structure-wise we're not under Coffee Stain.

E3 was canceled months ago.

What?

No worries. I considered commenting on it, because even though upgrading to Unreal 5 is a big deal, it's not completely redoing it. It's also not something done lightly, so if CSS made the switch, it's because it does have benefits for Satisfactory. And usually, it doesn't hurt the content pipeline that much as art and design should be able to work on the side. It's not without friction, but I bet it made sense to do so.