Square Enix is selling Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and its Western studios

[TNA]

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Square Enix is selling off its three major Western game studios along with the associated video game properties — which includes big names like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Thief. The studios and properties are set to be acquired by Embracer Group for an estimated $300 million; following regulatory approvals, the acquisition is set to be finalized between July and September of this year.

In total, Embracer is acquiring Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal, which amounts to “1,100 employees across three studios and eight global locations.” In terms of game properties, the company will be the steward of brands including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain, “along with continued sales and operations of the studios’ more than 50 back-catalogue games,” according to Embracer. Among other games already in development, Crystal Dynamics recently announced that it’s working on a new Tomb Raider title.

Interesting news. We may finally be getting a Deus Ex game

I was very disappointed in Square Enix shelving the game to go and make Marvel games. Hopefully Embracer will give this franchise the love it deserves. Would be nice to see the ending for Adam Jensen followed by a remake of the original using UE5

 

[Curlyriff]

More surprised at such low valuation overall for the franchises. Hopefully something good comes out of this.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

I'm surprised that they are selling them. Could they really not figure out a way to make money with those IP? Or are they trying to pivot the company in a different direction and they needed the cash to help them with that.

 

[TNA]

Yea. Odd isn't it. What a bargain at that price.

I think they just did not know how to get the best out of them and had unrealistic expectations.

It was them who shoehorned the rubbish that came with Deus Ex Mankind Devided. Stick to quality single player content. Plenty money in that if done right.

 

[Moley]

This is simply consolidation in the industry - expect to see more over the next 12 months, across the entire tech sector as early stage investors exit their holdings and bank the cash ready for the next wave of investments post the next crash.

 

[Curlyriff]

I'm surprised that they are selling them. Could they really not figure out a way to make money with those IP? Or are they trying to pivot the company in a different direction and they needed the cash to help them with that.

They stated they want cash for NTFs and Blockchain investment!

 

[Cosmic Schwung]

As their recent efforts have shown, they really didn't have much of a clue with what to do with these studios or IPs. $300M seems low, but they've basically been making nothing off them for years, and they might have even lost a lot on the Marvel license. Better to have cash with a plan on how to use it, although if that plan is blockchain/NFTs then all I can say to them is good luck.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

They stated they want cash for NTFs and Blockchain investment!

I can't tell; are you making a joke or are you being serious?

 

[Gray2233]

I'd kill for another good Thief or Deus Ex game and Squeenix weren't doing a damn thing with either, hopefully this means we'll see some movement.

 

[Curlyriff]

I can't tell; are you making a joke or are you being serious?

Well this is what said from them.

Square Enix said the sale to Embracer "enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud

 

[AWPC]

Last Tomb Raider game cost around $100M to make way too much considering the end result! They probably lost their shirt on that mistake alone! SOTTR is a solid game but nothing like as much content as the previous game ROTTR (which MS co-funded as an BX1 launch title).

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Well this is what said from them.

That seems crazy to me. They couldn't figure out how to monetise these IP's properly. Now they are selling them for dirt cheap and spending that money on crypto. Well good luck to them.

 

[TNA]

Last Tomb Raider game cost around $100M to make way too much considering the end result! They probably lost their shirt on that mistake alone! SOTTR is a solid game but nothing like as much content as the previous game ROTTR (which MS co-funded as an BX1 launch title).

That is indeed a lot for that game. I recently completed it and the story felt short and was nothing much special. ROTTR was easily the best one of the three games.

Would actually love to see them make a RT or PT version of the original Deus Ex with updated character models. That would be awesome and I would pay full price for that.

 

[Paul_cz]

Squeenix lost about 100M USD on Avengers, and neither Tomb Raider nor Deus Ex nor Guardians made any significant profit, sadly. All great games, but way too expensive to make and for some reason not as successful as some first party games.
For example, in my opinion Deus Ex or Guardians are better games than Spiderman or God of War, but both sold much less than those.

I truly hope Embracer will be able to make their games into hits they deserve to be. New Deus Ex must happen to properly finish Jensen trilogy.

 

[AWPC]

That is indeed a lot for that game. I recently completed it and the story felt short and was nothing much special. ROTTR was easily the best one of the three games.

Would actually love to see them make a RT or PT version of the original Deus Ex with updated character models. That would be awesome and I would pay full price for that.

MS paid most of the dev costs on ROTTR as it was designed as an Xbox 1 launch title is why it felt so epic!

SOTTR was very expensive as took them so long to get to grips with the RT & its a tiny little game which is very disjointed overall & pretty weak! They should go back to the ROTTR formula with the next one for sure!

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

SE are pretty out of touch. Glad to see the back of them (so long as Embracer do the right things). Hopefully we see revivals for Deus Ex, Thief, and Sleeping Dogs.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Awesome news here. Square Enix are a horrific mess, and getting these properties as far away from them as possible can only be a good thing.

 

[NZXT30]

Square Enix lost $200,000,000 on Marvel games – Avengers will transfer to Embracer Group​

How on earth did they manage to lose all that while having the rights to the most profitable franchise in history?

 

[Darujhistan]

How on earth did they manage to lose all that while having the rights to the most profitable franchise in history?

Easy by putting out mimimum viable product with very lttle content, especially for a live-service game, then expect people to wait for 18 months for them to fix it, while funding any further "development" with MTX money. But, it's con gamers have seen many times before and they're not falling for it (unless it's Battlefield fans! ), in general people try a game realise it's ***** and they move on quick - lost forever. Anthem was another classic example.

Also SQ have gone all in and NFT/Crypto/PTE BS. They've now decided they can't be arsed making games any more have decided they want people to work a 2nd job for them (sorry "contribute") in their pretend economy of nothing which they will have total control of.

Outside of FFXIV - SQ is a disaster area.

 

[Rroff]

Hopefully we see revivals for Deus Ex, Thief

It would mean retconning some aspects but it would be kind of cool, almost Assassins Creedish style, to have both in the same universe with a storyline spanning the entire timeline - completely changing or deepening the significance of the initial Lord Bafford mission in Thief and the motivations of some of the factions and characters.