Epos has introduced that will probably be exiting the gaming headphone enterprise and can as an alternative give attention to enterprise communications merchandise. The corporate’s gaming merchandise division, which was previously a part of the legendary Sennheiser, was answerable for delivery plenty of notable gaming headsets over the previous decade. Nonetheless, the persevering with weak point of the wired shopper audio market – and particularly the gaming market – has taken its toll.
Established in 2020 when Sennheiser and its accomplice Demant determined to half methods from their three way partnership of almost 20 years, Demant-owned Epos grew to become the brand new dwelling for what had been Sennheiser’s enterprise and gaming product divisions. Whereas hopes had been excessive for Epos because the gaming market has been rising within the current years, Epos’s gaming enterprise carried out weaker-than-expected in 2022 – 2023. And, dealing with a state of affairs the place further investments could be required to maintain the gaming division alive, Demant has determined to chop its losses and give attention to enterprise communications.
In accordance with social media posts from Epos workers members, the corporate has already laid off all of its gaming division workers. Although the corporate has acknowledged that it’ll proceed to help clients and unload stock of current merchandise within the coming months. That self-off course of is anticipated to take a good little bit of time, with Epos anticipating it to stretch in to 2024.
“For the reason that demerger of our three way partnership with the Sennheiser group, our Gaming enterprise has confronted a unstable market atmosphere,” mentioned Søren Nielsen, President & CEO of Demant. “Following extraordinary demand sparked by the pandemic in 2020, the gaming market has slowed down considerably because of weak shopper sentiment, and we don’t see a viable path to making a worthwhile enterprise with out important investments in merchandise, model and distribution. We in fact remorse the affect our determination could have on affected workers and want to thank all workers who’ve labored very arduous to construct the Gaming enterprise beneath tough circumstances.”
Wanting forward, Demant’s major focus might be on fortifying its place within the enterprise options market. The corporate goals to increase its product vary for companies and develop its distribution partnerships.
Financially, Demant anticipates some minor one-time prices in 2023 because of this shift. Nonetheless, the general monetary forecast for the 12 months and past stays secure. The Gaming division accounted for roughly 15% of the Communications phase’s income within the first half of 2023. By 2024, with the mixture of this phase-out and former cost-saving measures, Demant expects its operational bills in Communications to drop to DKK 450-500 million ($65 – $72 million) yearly. This discount is anticipated to result in improved margins and a extra favorable monetary place within the close to future.
