Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics surprised us today with a tweet discussing them giving up some of their properties to The Embracer Group.
SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. enters into an agreement with Embracer Group for the acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and IP.
Press Release: https://t.co/ooOYacp4PW pic.twitter.com/2PmQE967gk
— Square Enix (@SquareEnix) May 2, 2022
The list of properties that were sold to Embracer Group are CRYSTAL DYNAMICS, INC.; EIDOS INTERACTIVE CORP. and IP such as TOMB RAIDER, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain. In a press release they mention that the reason they were doing this purchase is to allocate their resources into other business oriented endeavors. With some notable ones in the list as Cloud gaming, Blockchain and AI. This could mean that they want to focus on more than just the publication of games and into other avenues of the gaming industry.
I am interested to see how this changes the current conditions of the developers Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive. There is a lot that Square Enix has done in the past that more or less threw these development studios under the rug, such as discussing how Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy underperformed. They have also gone on record citing Crystal Dynamics as the reason as to why Marvel’s Avengers was released the way that it was.Â
They went as far as to make sure in their press release to state that Just Cause, Life is Strange and Outriders will still be owned and operated by Square Enix. All the other western properties were sold to Embracer Group for $300 million. Which in terms of acquisitions go, is quite low in recent history. One of the more recent acquisitions from Embracer Group was Gearbox Studios for $1.3 billion.
All we can do is see how these studios do without Square Enix.