Embracer Group has announced it is acquiring Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and all of their IP, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and more than 50 back-catalog titles from Square Enix.
The deal sees Square Enix dropping most of its Western business, and getting back to focusing exclusively on its development studios in Japan and Asia after decades of operations.
Fans are shocked to see the acquisition is only worth $300 million, to be paid in cash after the closure, despite including 1.100 employees across three studios and eight global locations.
On top of that, Embracer claims it has “secured additional long-term debt funding commitments for this and other transactions in the pipeline,” so expect more from the prolific Swedish company later this year.
”We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group. We recognize the fantastic IP, world class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades,” says Lars Wingefors, co-founder and group CEO, Embracer Group.
“It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realize their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer.”
Just a few weeks ago, Crystal Dynamics announced that a new Tomb Raider game is in the works, based on Unreal Engine 5.
The franchise has sold more than 88 million copies, and its reboot trilogy featuring a young Lara Croft also became a movie starring Alicia Vikander.
Embracer’s press release also names Deus Ex (more than 12 million copies sold), Legacy of Kain, Thief,” and other original franchises.
After closing this transaction, the US will be Embracer’s #1 country by number of game developers, and Canada will be #2.
Embracer will have more than 14,000 employees, 10,000 engaged game developers, and 124 internal studios, while it claims its “upcoming content pipeline includes more than 230 games with more than 30 AAA games.”
Square Enix says the transaction “enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud.”
Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.