Embracer Group is buying up the western developers of Square Enix
The Embracer Group, the company that can’t not buy anyone and also owns Gearbox, Aspyr, Sabre Interactive, Koch Media, THQNordic and another 100+ companies, has announced that they are buying Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montréal from Square Enix.
The deal is set to be worth around $300 million USD, or roughly, $425 million in our local dollar. Alongside the studios, with their roughly 1,100 employees, the purchase will also include the IP rights to games like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 additional IP.
”We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group. We recognize the fantastic IP, world class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades. It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realize their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer,” says Lars Wingefors, Co-founder and Group CEO, Embracer Group.
”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.
If you think that they were a big company before, post pending closings, Embracer will have more than 14,000 employees, 10,000 engaged game developers, and 124 internal studios. Embracer’s upcoming content pipeline includes more than 230 games with more than 30 AAA games.
All the games that are currently in development by the respective studios, will remain in development and all the outsourced or work-for-hire jobs, will still be completed, as per the contract. That means Crystal Dynamics working with The Initiative and Xbox on Perfect Dark is still going to go ahead.
