Deus Ex and Tomb Raider Acquired Along With Creators by Embracer Group
Embracer Group bought out Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix Montreal studios and a number of popular IPs from Square Enix, including Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain.
The Embracer Group has made another, this time a very surprising purchase.
- The company acquired Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal studios.
- The existing owner, Square Enix, will receive $300 million in return.
- As part of the deal, Embracer also acquired the rights to a number of brands, such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain.
- Embracer also acquired the rights to over 50 of the teams' already released games.
In practice this means Square Enix has sold most of its western studios. The company has long expressed dissatisfaction with the results of their games, so analysts expected that the studios would be sold. It is worth noting that the Japanese publisher still retains the rights to several major Western brands, including Just Cause and Life is Strange.
What is surprising is the price - $300 million is a small amount in exchange for what Embracer received. This shows that Square Enix wanted to get rid of the assets as soon as possible.
What will Embracer do with its new acquisition?
The deal was a bargain for the Embracer group. Not only did it gain a powerful set of recognizable brands, but the acquired studios employ about 1,100 people in total.
For a while, the Internet also flared up because of reports that Embracer has announced the resurrection of the Deus Ex series, but it turned out to be a mistake, because officially the company has not announced anything like that. However, it is worth noting that in the press release the group mentioned this brand, as well as Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain, which suggests that these three series are the main candidates for a return.
In any case, the deal is great news for fans of these series. Embracer has a lot of experience in resurrecting old brands (just think of SpellForce 3, Desperados III or Darksiders III), and the company seems to have much more realistic expectations for sales results than Square Enix.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that this is not the end of Embracer's purchases. The group recently reported that over the next few years it intends to acquire dozens of other studios.
