New owner Deus Ex and Tomb Raider sees ‘a lot of potential’ in sequels, remakes – Gaming – News

The Embracer Group says it sees “a lot of potential” in recently acquired from Square Enix game franchises such as Deus Ex and Tomb Raider. It sees that ‘not only in sequels, but also in remakes, remasters, spin-offs and transmedia projects within the [Embracer] Group’.

On the one hand, it is logical that the Embracer Group has a return wil benefit from its new investments. On the other hand, it is a significant change of course compared to what the Japanese publisher Square Enix did with the game series in question. Two of the three major franchises mentioned above, Deus Ex and Thief, were not known to be actively exploited by the Japanese company. The last major Deus Ex game dates from 2016 and the last Thief from 2014. Square Enix has repeatedly stated in previous quarterly meetings that the franchises have not performed as desired in the market.

The Embracer Group, a Swedish investment company, expects that sometime in the summer months the takeover, which will cost $300 million, will be officially completed. Embracer has been the largest European game company since the beginning of this year. The company overtook Ubisoft by the Billionaire takeover of board game maker Asmodee† Embracer, previously known as THQ Nordic, has made numerous acquisitions in recent years and does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. At the end of last year, the company said want to take over dozens of game companies.

Another example of a franchise acquired from Square is Legacy of Kain. Furthermore, after the takeover, the game company will receive the income from ‘more than fifty back-catalog games’. Those are games that the studios made in recent years and are still being sold. The studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal will also be acquired. The Just Cause, Life is Strange, Outriders, and the more Japan-focused game series franchises will remain with Square.