Embracer’s press release explains that the acquisition involves no less than 50 games and licenses from Square Enix’s Western catalog, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Rogue, and even Kane’s heritage”. Embracer intends to pay cash for the license catalog and bring under its umbrella three of Square Enix’s main Western studios, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, which together employ 1,100 people.
Seeing Square Enix so easily draw the line across much of its Western activities is a radical strategic decision to say the least, even if CEO Yosuke Matsuda didn’t hesitate to let IO Interactive slip away. . Spring 2017. We also know that the misfortunes of games like Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy crippled Square Enix’s ability to take on the AAA challenges of the West.
But it’s still hard to imagine Yosuke Matsuda separating so easily from a license like Tomb Raider (88 million games sold), whose next title is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, even with Deus Ex ” (12 million games sold) separate). Square Enix’s very good financial performance suggests there is no need to sell these assets, even though most of Square Enix’s financial guarantees are due to its Japanese mobile game Final Fantasy XIV or its greatest successes, such as the recent Final Fantasy XIV. Fantasy 7 Remake.
Square Enix keeps Just Cause, Life is Strange and Outriders
May 2, 2022 will go down in Square Enix history. Thirteen years after acquiring Eidos Interactive and licenses such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Kane’s Legacy, the publisher chose to refocus on its Japanese brand and studio. However, the operation doesn’t include all of Square Enix’s western licensing, which still owns Just Cause, Life is Strange or, more recently, Outriders. Therefore, in addition to the development studio in Japan, Square Enix also has a Square Enix external studio division and the Square Enix Collective, an indie game initiative.
In the face of shareholders, Square Enix justified the sale of these studios and licenses”Improve business efficiency by implementing more efficient resource allocation to help companies adapt to the ongoing changes in the global business environment“The savings from the sale of these studios and licenses will also enable financing.”Invest in new businesses in areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloudwhich is sure to be coveted by many players, including our readership.
Embracer believes that demand for high-quality content, especially AAA single-player games, will continue to grow over the next decade.
hugger press release
“We are excited to welcome these studios to the Embracer team. We know they have demonstrated great licensing, world-class creative talent and an exceptional reputation time and time again over the past few decades.We had the pleasure of meeting with the management team and discussing their future plans so they can achieve their ambitions and become an important part of Embracer”, commented Lars Wingefors, co-founder and CEO of Embracer Group.
“Embracer is gaming’s best-kept secret: a large, decentralized collection of entrepreneurs, and we’re excited to be a part of it today. It fits perfectly with our ambition: to create high-quality games with great people in a sustainable way, and grow our existing franchises in the best possible way. Embracer allows us to forge new partnerships across all media to maximize the potential of our franchises and realize our dream of creating extraordinary entertainment.”, added Phil Rogers, CEO of Square Enix US and Europe.
Expected to complete operations between July 2022 and September 2022, Embracer will manage more than 14,000 employees, including 10,000 developers, across 124 internal studios. The Lars Wingefors team’s catalog includes more than 230 games in development, including about 30 major titles. Among them, the next Tomb Raider from Crystal Dynamics and the AAA game Eidos Montreal is preparing, which is under development under new and known licenses.
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