The Swedish conglomerate has laid off 5% of its workforce after its proposed deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games fell through.Stephen Totilo, writing for Axios, covered Embracer Group’s quarterly report on Twitter.

The company’s CEO, Lars Wingefors, got his favourite question (as the analyst who asked it called it): how does he feel about the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake? Wingefors replied that whatever he says, you’ll see it in the news (or rather, in the headlines), and that’s all he had to say.So it remains a sensitive issue for the company.

Officially, the Embracer Group is keeping quiet about it, and rumours abound that it has been postponed indefinitely after development was halted last year following an internal demo, and before that that it could be an action RPG inspired by God of War and Nioh. It may have been quietly shelved, which may not be to Disney’s liking, as LucasFilm Games will surely be knocking on the door at some point to ask about the status of the project (especially as the official trailer has disappeared from YouTube).

During the first few minutes of the presentation, Wingefors said that the Embracer Group, which employs about 17,000 people, had to cut about 5%, or 900 people, due to the failure of the $2 billion deal and the resulting restructuring.We won’t quote his explanation because it’s pointless. The company grew too big too fast, and that Volition (Saints Row, Agents of Mayhem) was one of the casualties, and that Gearbox might even be put up for sale.Wingefors was asked what will happen to Free Radical Design and Timesplitters?He doesn’t rule out the possibility that both the relaunched studio and the franchise’s resurrection are dead, so the earlier rumors may be true this time around. We can’t wait for more cuts to be announced…

Source: WCCFTech, PCGamer, VGC