Plaion is restructuring, layoffs planned
Publisher formerly known as Koch Media will merge Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt under single brand
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Plaion is restructuring its games publishing business which is expected to result in layoffs, GamesIndustry.biz has learned.
Sources close to the matter have told us a number of jobs are at stake as the publisher, which rebranded from Koch Media last year, merges multiple publishing labels into one.
A slide from an internal presentation shared with us shows the company plans to drop three of its publishing labels – Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt – and instead publish all associated titles under the Plaion brand.
Sources tell us the aim is to produce fewer titles at a higher quality.
GamesIndustry.biz reached out to Plaion for comment and clarification. A company representative told us the restructuring was part of "simplifying our publishing operations" and that it will likely only affect around five to six jobs. The company employs over 2,000.
They also emphasised that this is not an immediate change, but part of a process that will take up to twelve months. Titles may even be published under Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt "over the next couple of years."
Koch created the Deep Silver label in 2002 and Ravenscourt in 2015. While the former handles the firm's biggest titles such as Saints Row, Metro and Dead Island, the latter initially focused on simulation games before moving onto indie and more family-friendly titles like Let's Sing.
Prime Matter, meanwhile, was a new label created in 2021, and was handling titles such as the next Painkiller and the Switch edition of Warhorse Studios' Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Going forward, Plaion's publishing operations for these three brands will be built around four pillars: Games Portfolio and Business, Publishing Services, Global Sales & Marketing, and Distribution Partnership.
The company's other two brands, Milestone and Vertigo Games, were not mentioned and may be unaffected.
Plaion acquired VR developer Vertigo Games in 2020, while Milestone was acquired by Koch in 2019.
Back in November, Embracer Group announced it was launching a "special review" of all its business operations due to "the challenges of geopolitical and social issues around the world and the new macroeconomic reality."
Over the past six years, Embracer has spent billions of dollars on dozens of acquisitions, including Koch Media back in 2018. According to its 2022 annual report, the company owned 118 studios across 10 operative groups (such as Plaion and THQ Nordic) with a headcount of 12,760 people.
The Plaion representative told GamesIndustry.biz its restructuring is "nothing to do" with the Embracer review.