Square Enix has been the subject of many theories lately, thanks largely to the fact that it has sold three of its major Western game development studios and their related (and well-regarded) intellectual properties to Embracer Group.
The company has also not clarified the situation in detail, adding even more fuel to the discussions surrounding the deal. However, new data on Square Enix and, according to MST Financial, the publisher has lost $200 million dollars between his two releases of Marvel.
This gives us a pretty good idea why Square Enix would sell Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, which worked on Marvel’s Avengers Y Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively. Namely, while Guardians of the Galaxy was critically acclaimed, it seems that Avengers, with a less favorable review, ended up affecting it.
MST Financial’s analysis of the situation has shown that the company lost ‘hundreds of millions of dollars‘ in the production and marketing of these games, which seems to have been a bitter pill for Square Enix. GoG is undoubtedly building its audience through Game Pass right now, but that seems too little too late to have made a difference, as both properties are now owned by Embracer Group.
Now that Embracer has acquired Square Enix’s western studios, the company can focus on projects that seem to make the most sense, like Forspoken and the Final Fantasy franchise. Although it should also be noted that Square retains the rights to Outriders, Just Cause and Life is Strange, implying that these IPs have historically been more successful than the two Marvel games in question.