Square Enix looks to be shedding its coat for the summer, after the company entered into an agreement with Embracer Group to sell off most (if not all) of its Western development assets.
Embracer Group – formerly known as THQ Nordic – has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Square Enix to purchase much of the latter’s Western development assets. The sale hands control and ownership of Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer, and includes 1100 employees across eight global locations, as well as dozens of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and more. It’ll set Embracer back $300,000,000 USD.
The companies – which have comprised of the vast majority of Square Enix’s Western development efforts – have been seeing middling success for the past half-decade, with some high profile failures such as Marvel’s Avengers ultimately failing to turn a profit or meet sales expectations. Eidos’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy fared better critically, but similarly failed to meet Square Enix’s lofty sales expectations.
Square Enix says its development teams will consist of its studios in Japan, Square Enix
External Studios, and Square Enix Collective. Just Cause, Outriders and Life as Strange will remain continue to be published by Square Enix.
None of the studios acquired have developed any games for the Nintendo Switch, but many of the titles included in the back-catalogue and IP purchases, which are not listed individually, are likely to be present on the platform in one way or another. It remains to be seen if Embracer will use those games and IPs to develop titles for the Switch or its successor, but given they’ve been a fairly solid supporter of the platform since it released in 2017, it’s probably a safe bet we’ll be seeing more in the future.
You can click here to read the statement in full on the Embracer Group website.
