We started the week with great news, as Square Enix announced their agreement to sell some of their western studios and their licenses to Embracer Group. Among the studios sold are Eidos Montréal, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix Montreal, under license from Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more.
This morning Embracer Group released a statement announcing the deal, acquiring Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal and the licenses to more than 50 games, in addition to more than 1,100 employees from the three studios and their eight global locations. The cost of this transaction is $300 million dollars and it is expected to end for the period from July to September 2022.
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Embracer Group co-founder and CEO Lars Wingefors said they were excited to welcome these three studios and their world-class talent, who have a track record that has proven what they are capable of over and over again for The last decades. Windefors says he has met with the studios to discuss future plans.
With this deal Square Enix is going to be laying off most of its Western operations, which at times felt like an entirely separate entity from the studios in Japan, so this sale isn’t all that surprising. Just a couple of months ago, Square Enix said it was disappointed with the sales of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and it’s not the first time they’ve said this for a Western production.
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In the Embracer Group statement, the company says it has acquired several new games in development from well-known franchises, such as the Crystal Dynamics new Tomb Raider announced in early April. In addition, the company says it is excited about the potential of other licenses such as Thief and Legacy of Kain, which gives us hope to see new installments in the coming years.
Embracer Group will continue operations and receive profits from the more than 50 games in the catalog of the acquired studios. According to the information in the statement, Eidos Montreal is working on new games from both known licenses and new IPs, while Square Enix Montreal will continue to develop mobile games based on AAA IPs.
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One thing to note is that Embracer Group predicts an increase in demand for single player games with high-quality content, so they will put the quality of their games above all else.