Square Enix has sold off three of its largest Western developer studios to the Embracer Group. Square Enix Montreal, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos-Montreal are now jumping under the ever-growing Embracer Group umbrella.
It was Embracer – the Swedish owner of Gearbox Entertainment, THQ Nordic and Koch Media, among others – as Monday morning announced the acquisition. The price tag is NOK 2.8 billion.
The company will receive a number of game series with the purchase, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and Legacy of Cain, as well as almost 1100 developers distributed among the three developers.
Continues work on new Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics continues its work with a new Tomb Raider game, after the acquisition. Microsoft-owned The Initiative also wrote on Twitter that it is continuing its collaboration with Crystal Dynamics on Perfect Dark.
The article continues below the Twitter message.
– We are pleased to welcome these studios to the Embracer Group. We recognize their fantastic game series, world-class creative talent and an ability to produce unique games over and over again in recent decades, said Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors in a statement.
In its explanation of why Embracer chose to buy the studios, the company highlights Crystal Dynamics and Eidos as “two of the industry’s most recognized AAA studios”.
However, it is worth mentioning that both have stumbled a bit in recent years. For example, Square Enix has reported that neither Marvel’s Avengers nor Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy met the company’s expectations of sales figures.
I their own press release Square explains that the sale opens new doors in the company’s investment in the blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud technology.
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