The Embracer Group Acquires Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, And Square-Enix Montreal For $300 Million
by Sage Ashford
The Embracer Group has slowly become one of the largest game publishing studios in the world after acquiring minor and major studios across the globe. Now, Embracer has taken their next step by announcing they’ve acquired the Western development arm of Square-Enix in a deal totaling $300 million. This deal will see Embracer acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square-Enix Montreal along with a host of IPs that includes Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and more than 50 other back-catalogue IPs.
Though it might seem easy to write off those older properties, the initial press release sees Embracer Group specifically mention not just Tomb Raider, but Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and Thief as franchises to invest in for the future. Embracer notes they have over 230 games in development with more than 30 of them being AAA titles.
Square-Enix has noted disappointment with the performances of their Western games going back to the early 2010s. In 2013, they mentioned Tomb Raider failed to meet their expectations by only selling 3.4 million copies. Marvel’s Avengers was also notably considered a disappointment, as was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaking of Marvel’s Avengers, currently there’s little news of the game’s ongoing status in the aftermath of this deal. Whatever licensing deal Marvel had was with Square-Enix, not Crystal Dynamics. The last we heard about it, the game was scheduled to add Jane Foster to the game with the 2.4 update coming in the summer. This deal will likely close between July and September, and in that time according to Embracer they’re looking to try and continue with both licenses, if they can get Marvel’s approval.
A new chapter in our story begins as we announce a plan to join the @embracergroup family. Read the press release for details: https://t.co/wQNTycPHYQ pic.twitter.com/MHbwBsV6vF
— Crystal Dynamics (@CrystalDynamics) May 2, 2022
Elsewhere, The Initiative has confirmed they’ll still be working with Crystal Dynamics on their upcoming game, a reboot of Perfect Dark:
We’re excited to see Crystal Dynamics take these next steps with their studio. Our teams have made great progress in building Perfect Dark together as co-development partners, and we will be continuing this work with them in their next chapter. https://t.co/9gG2VGUV8u
— TheInitiative (@TheInitiative) May 2, 2022
Square-Enix, which have released a press release of their own, plans to use the additional funds to launch new businesses in fields including blockchain, AI, and the Cloud. Meanwhile, they plan to keep the IP they’ve been licensing out to Western studios, including Just Cause, Outriders, and Life is Strange.
