EMBRACER GROUP: Last News

Square Enix’s recently sold Eidos-Montréal studio has said that the Japanese company may have sold its western developers to gear up for a Sony acquisition.Stephane D’Astous made the comment on Tuesday (July 26), after resigning from Eidos-Montréal in 2013 due to the “lack of leadership, lack of courage and the lack of communication.”D’Astous has said that he’s heard Square Enix sold off many of its western IP and studios like Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montréal and Eidos-Montréal to Embracer Group to make itself more palatable for a potential Sony acquisition (via GamesIndustry.biz).“If I read between the lines, Square Enix Japan was not as committed as we hoped initially. And there are rumours, obviously, that with all these activities of mergers and acquisitions, that Sony would really like to have Square Enix within their wheelhouse,” explained D’Astous.

TimeSplitters game.Last December, it was confirmed that Free Radical Design would be closing down with immediate effect, with owners Embracer Group carrying out a fierce restructuring program.Since the studio was relaunched in 2021, it had been working on a fourth Timesplitters game. “You asked us and we listened.

Late last month, news broke that Warner Bros. Pictures had a new multi-year deal in place with Embracer Group‘s Middle-Earth Enterprises for New Line Cinema to make more “The Lord Of The Rings” movies.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda shared that the money raised by selling many of its western properties last year will be used to “foster solid IP” rather than invest in NFTs and blockchain technology.Back in May, Square Enix announced a deal with Embracer Group to sell some of the company’s biggest western titles, including Tomb Raider, Deux Ex, and Thief. Several studios – including Crystal Dynamics – were also included in the sale.At the time the company shared that the sales would help invest in “blockchain, AI, and the cloud“, however, Square Enix has seemingly decided against this.In a financial results briefing, Matsuda shared that “rather than using the proceeds from the divestiture in new investment domains such as NFT and blockchain, we intend to use them primarily to fund our efforts to foster solid IP and to enhance our development capabilities in our core digital entertainment segment.”Matsuda added that Square Enix will raise funds for “new investment domains” separately from the company’s “core business” to do so, and revealed that “the Just Cause franchise will remain our IP, and we are at work developing a new title in the franchise.”Over the last year, Matsuda has been a vocal supporter of blockchain technology, despite criticism from fans.

Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms being part of the group.The Swedish firm – known for being the owners of Koch Media, Gearbox Software, Saber Interactive and THQ Nordic – has continued its reign of purchasing game studios. The first of which being Denmark-based Ghost Ship Games, Slipgate Ironworks and the aforementioned 3D Realms.Swedish developer Easy Trigger Games was another that will now merge with the team at Coffee Stain, while hypercasual mobile specialist CrazyLabs will continue to operate independently under DECA Games.Finally.