In a surprising move, Square Enix has announced the sale of its western studios and IPs to Embracer Group for just $300 million. That amount seems even more measly considering that the sale includes franchises like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Theif, while the studios include Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal.
The sale means the moving of 1100 employees over to the Embracer Group. At the moment, it is known that at least one new Tomb Raider entry is in development with Crystal Dynamics. Though nothing apart from the fact that it will be developed using Unreal Engine 5 is known to us right now.
There’s some good news for the other franchises as well. Embracer Group has said that it “sees an opportunity to invest in these franchises” as well as “the additional acquired IPs such as Legacy of Kain, Thief and other original franchises.”
It’s worth noting that the games that Square Enix publishes from third-party studios are not counted in this deal. These include Life Is Strange games, Just Cause entries and also games from the Outriders series. Early last year, the Embracer Group had bought Borderlands maker Gearbox for up to $1.3 billion.
The sale of these western studios by Square Enix seems like it will help the company move its focus fully to Japanese games that procure a major chunk of its overall revenue. However, the $300 million price of all the high-profile franchises and studios sold to the Embracer Group does raise some eyebrows, especially with Sony and Microsoft trading in billions during their recent buying sprees.
The sale of these Square Enix studios and franchises is set to go through by the time September rolls along.