The new big announcement in the category of acquisitions fell this Monday morning and it will surprise more than 1. Growing has just announced that it has reached an agreement with Square Enix to buy its main Western studios and licenses for an amount of $ 300 million. Yet relatively derisory, this sum is all that Square Enix needed to separate from Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal but also a license as prestigious as Tomb Raider. Unthinkable.
The kissing press release explains that this acquisition concerns no less than 50 games and licenses from the Western catalog of Square Enix, licenses including Tomb Raider), Deus Ex, Thief, or Legacy of Kain. Getting into account in cash this license catalog and taking under its wing the three main Western Square Enix studios that are Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, which represent a total of 1,100 employees.
It is not possible to say, see Square Enix drawing a line as easily on a large part of its Western activity appears as a strategic decision to say the least radical, even if the CEO Yosuke Matsuda did not hesitate to let IO interactive spin And its Hitman license in spring 2017. We also knew that the misfortune of games like Marvel’s Avengers and to a lesser extent by Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy had weakened Square Enix in its ability to meet the challenge of Western AAAs.
But it was still difficult to imagine that Yosuke Matsuda would have separated as easily from a license like Tomb Raider (88 million games sold), the next opus of which is in development with the Unreal Engine 5 engine, or even Deus ex (12 million games sold). The very good financial results of Square Enix did not suggest any need to sell such assets, even if Square Enix owes most of its economic guarantees to its Japanese mobile games, Final Fantasy 14 or its best successes Japanese, like Final Fantasy 7 Remake recently.
Square Enix Garde Just Cause, Life is Strange and Outriders
The day of May 2, 2022 will be a date in the history of Square Enix. 13 years after the purchase of Eidos Interactive and licenses like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain, the publisher therefore chooses to refocus on his Japanese brands and studios. However, the operation does not include all the western licenses of Square Enix, which remains in possession of Just Cause, Life is Strange or the recent Outriders. In addition to its Japanese development studios, Square Enix therefore maintains its Square Enix External Studios department and its independent games program Square Enix Collective.
Faced with shareholders, Square Enix justifies the sale of these studios and licenses in sight “Itide the company to adapt to current changes in the global trade environment by setting up a more effective allocation of resources, which will improve the efficiency of the company “. The savings made by the sale of these studios and licenses will also allow financier “The launch of new activities with investments in areas including blockchain, AI and Cloud“, which will not fail to make many players, including our readership.
Kissing believes that there will be an increasingly strong demand for high quality content, including AAA solo games, during the decade.
Kissing press release
“We are delighted to welcome these studios into the Group Group. We are aware of the fantastic licenses, creative world class talent and the reputation of excellence that they have shown many times in recent decades. C ‘Is with great pleasure that we met the management teams and discussed their plans for the future so that they can achieve their ambitions and become an important element to kiss, “comments Lars Wingers, co -founder and CEO of the Group Group.
“Embracer is the best kept secret of the game: a massive and decentralized collection of entrepreneurs of which we are delighted to be part today. It corresponds perfectly to our ambitions: to create high quality games, with great people, from Sustainable way, and developing our existing deductibles in the best way. Kissing allows us to forge new partnerships on all supports in order to maximize the potential of our franchises and realize our dream of creating extraordinary entertainment “, adds Philo Rogers, CEO of Square Enix America and Europe.
Once the operation was finalized, which should take place between July and September 2022, Kiss will reign over 14,000 employees, including 10,000 developers, in 124 internal studios.
The catalog of the Lars Wingers group includes more than 230 developing games, including around thirty large productions.
Among them, the next Tomb Raider of Crystal Dynamics but also the AAA Games in preparation at Eidos Montréal, which is at work on new licenses and on known licenses.