Square Enix Splits From Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and Legacy of Kain for Just $300 Million

The communication Embracer clarifies that this acquisition relates to at least 50 games and licenses from Square Enix’s western catalog, licenses including Tomb rider), The former godOr a thief or even kenya heritage. Embracer intends to pay cash for this catalog of licenses and take over Square Enix’s three major western studios, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, which represent a total of 1,100 employees.

To say the least, seeing Square Enix easily draw a line under much of its Western business seems like a radical strategic decision to say the least, even if CEO Yosuke Matsuda doesn’t hesitate to let IO Interactive slip away. and his license Assassin In the spring of 2017. The misfortune of games like Marvel’s Avengers and, to a lesser extent, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, was also known to have weakened Square Enix in its ability to meet the Western AAA challenge.

But it was still hard to imagine that Yosuke Matsuda would have easily parted from a license like Tomb Raider (88 million games sold), whose next work is being developed with Unreal Engine 5, or even from Deus Ex (12 million games sold). Square Enix’s very good financial results do not indicate any need to sell such assets, even if Square Enix owes most of its economic guarantees to its Japanese mobile game, Final Fantasy 14 or its greatest Japanese success, such as Final Fantasy 7 Remake recently.

Square Enix just keeps the reason, life is weird and weird

May 2, 2022 will go down in Square Enix’s history. After 13 years of buying Eidos Interactive and licenses such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain, the publisher has chosen to refocus on Japanese brands and studios. However, the process does not include all Western licenses of Square Enix, which are still in possession JustCauseAnd life is strange Or even Modern Outriders, that is, games developed by partner studios. In addition to the Japanese development studios, Square Enix maintains its own division of Square Enix External Studios and the independent game software Square Enix Collective.

Confronting Square Enix shareholders justify Sale of these studios and licenses in the show”Helping the company adapt to the constant changes in the global business environment by implementing a more efficient allocation of resources, which leads to improved business efficiency“.The savings made through the sale of these studios and licenses will also allow for financing.”Launching new businesses with investments in areas including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud”, which will not fail to make many players dream, including our readers.

Embracer believes that there will be a growing demand for high-quality content, especially single-player AAA games, over the course of the decade.

“We are delighted to welcome these studios to the Embracer Group. We recognize the impressive licenses, world-class creative talent, and reputation for excellence that they have demonstrated time and time again over the past decades. It was a pleasure to meet the management teams and discuss their future plans so that they can realize their ambitions and become an important part of EmbracerLars Wingfors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group commented.

“Embracer is gaming’s best kept secret: a huge decentralized group of entrepreneurs that we’re excited to be a part of today. It fits perfectly with our ambitions: to create high-quality games, with great people, in a sustainable way, and to develop our existing franchises in the best possible way. Embracer allows us to create new partnerships across all media to maximize the potential of our franchises and realize our dream of creating extraordinary entertainment.‘,” adds Phil Rogers, CEO of Square Enix America and Europe.

Once the process is completed, which is expected to take place between July and September 2022, Embracer will control more than 14,000 employees, including 10,000 developers, in 124 in-house studios. The Lars Wingefors collection catalog includes more than 230 games in development, including about thirty major productions. Among them, the next Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics as well as AAA games in preparation at Eidos Montreal, which is working on new licenses and well-known licenses.

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