Beloved intellectual properties you might associate with Square Enix will no longer have anything to do with the company. Square Enix is selling off a collection of its western-developed IPs and the studios behind those games to Embracer Group. According to industry analysts, Square had been looking to offload these studios and franchises, due to their underperformance in recent years. The sale includes properties such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and more, alongside developers Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal, and Eidos Montreal, spanning 1,100 employees across those three studios. This also means that Embracer Group acquires the new in-development Tomb Raider title being made in Unreal Engine 5.

The sale is set to finalize this September. Embracer Group currently owns over 100 other studios and publishers, including THQ Nordic, Koch Media, and Saber Interactive.

”Embracer is the best kept secret in gaming: a massive, decentralized collection of entrepreneurs whom we are thrilled to become a part of today. It is the perfect fit for our ambitions: make high-quality games, with great people, sustainably, and grow our existing franchises to their best versions ever. Embracer allows us to forge new partnerships across all media to maximize our franchises’ potential and live our dreams of making extraordinary entertainment,” says Phil Rogers, Square Enix America and Europe CEO.

Source

 

[Delerious]

Sometimes I wish that companies would just make dead franchises open source rather than just selling them. I know that some of the franchises sold were big, but most of them are probably just going to collect dust anyway.

 

[Rahkeesh]

Reminder that Crystal Dynamics announced starting another main series Tomb Raider game before being sold off. So if Embracer doesn't want that they have to right ship quickly.

You can be certain we will see low-effort remasters of older Tomb Raider games. Maybe even Legacy of Kain. Actual new stuff seems to be a harder lift with Embracer, but again they might allow CD to keep doing their TR thing.

Microsoft should have bought all this stuff if it was only 300 million. Future tomb raider movies alone could be worth more than that.

Microsoft is still trying to get its ABK acquisition past the FTC, they might not have wanted to risk buying up other things in the meanwhile, no matter how good a deal.

 

[ChiefReginod]

You can be certain we will see low-effort remasters of older Tomb Raider games. Maybe even Legacy of Kain.

Since there was zero chance for any of this with SE, this is a positive to me. Day-old scraps are still better than starving.

 

[ertaboy356b]

I guess this means that SquareEnix will be focusing on Japanese IPs. Hope they focus on a few games at a time as they are so fragmented right now. They have like 20 games in the pipeline.

 

[Glyptofane]

I guess this means that SquareEnix will be focusing on Japanese IPs. Hope they focus on a few games at a time as they are so fragmented right now. They have like 20 games in the pipeline.

One might think so, yes, but the full scope of this thing is getting even worse. Apparently they intend to just throw the money away on developing NFTs and other fad scam shit that their current customers will actually hate.

https://www.ign.com/articles/square...nvest-more-in-the-blockchain-ai-and-the-cloud

 

[Dr_Faustus]

Reminder that Crystal Dynamics announced starting another main series Tomb Raider game before being sold off. So if Embracer doesn't want that they have to right ship quickly.

You can be certain we will see low-effort remasters of older Tomb Raider games. Maybe even Legacy of Kain. Actual new stuff seems to be a harder lift with Embracer, but again they might allow CD to keep doing their TR thing.

There is no reason that Embracer wouldn't want the game though, at the very least the project might be restarted if the direction of it ends up being not what they or hell the developers even wanted. As long as its not another reboot series it would only benefit from getting more games again since people want older Lara back in play.

 

[chrisrlink]

The one real surprise on that list is Tomb Raider, as I thought the recent games did quite well sales-wise. The rest of the IPs Square hadn't done anything with in a long time, so it can only be a positive thing that they might see the light of day again.

Imagine if the chrono series was part of the deal (as it only had 2 games and a rumored but axed 3rd title) this why i feel peopleshould stop supporting companies with stale IP's yes CCR was just released but that game was from the early 2000's long over due for a final game or even at CT 1.5 which explains the events between the end of CT and CC in game form