Square Enix sells several development studios as well as brands such as “Tomb Raider” and “Deux Ex” to the Swedish Embracer Group. The latter may not mean anything to many readers right away, but as a large corporation, it is also behind Gearbox and THQ Nordic, among others. The takeover is not final and still has to be waved through by the responsible authorities. According to the press release, the deal should then be worth around 300 million US dollars.
For this, the Embracer Group grabs the studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal. The latter developer will then probably be renamed. The studios employ 1,100 people. Brands that will then migrate to Embracer Group include Deux Ex, Tomb Raider, The Legacy of Kain, and more. It will be exciting to see what will become of a possible second part of “Guardians of the Galaxy”, a game by Eidos Montreal that I really enjoyed.
Why the sale? That’s hard to say, but despite positive reviews, Square Enix has never been entirely satisfied with the game sales of the developers mentioned. The acquisition is currently expected to close in Embracer’s second fiscal quarter, which corresponds to the period from July to September 2022.
Square Enix wants to use the deal to increase its efficiency and secure free capital for investments in the cloud, artificial intelligence and blockchain, for example. Most gamers will probably now be more interested in what the Embracer Group is doing with “Tomb Raider” and Co. than looking forward to the already mentioned NFT offensive from Square Enix. But that’s just a rough idea I have.