Forums / Media / Video Games

Source

So looks like Square is selling off all the studios and IPs they acquired from their purchase of Eidos back in the late 00s to Embracer Group, the company that also owns the likes of THQ Nordic and Deep Silver (owners of IPs like TimeSplitters and Saints Row). This means Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and others will now be under the Embracer label and Embracer now owns IPs like Thief, Deus Ex, and Tomb Raider (but not Hitman or IO Interactive as IO split from Square years ago and took Hitman with them).

What this means for the future of these studios and IPs remains to be seen, but given Embracer reformed Free Radical with its original founders and greenlit a new TimeSplitters, who knows, maybe Looking Glass is reformed to make a new Thief, or Eidos Montreal gets to make the conclusion to their Adam Jensen Deus Ex trilogy at last.

Those studios have been hemorrhaging money under Square's poor leadership for years. From Thief Reboot to Mankind Divided to Guardians of the Galaxy game, it's been consistent flop after financial flop. I'm not surprised they finally decided to call it quits.

I'm slightly optimistic about this acquisition, as you say, we may finally get another entry in the long awaited Adam Jensen trilogy. God know Square Enix was doing fuck all with the Deus Ex IP.

Better that they get sold off but… I'm kinda bummed since even though it'd never happen, Gex would've been fun to see in Kingdom Hearts.

Do you mean that Legacy of Kain has a chance? I mean, if they choose to remake the games, fine, but the question is, will they keep the VA's work intact, or will they rework it? Most of the voice actors are still around, sure, but without Tony Jay's masterful performance, it's hard to tell.

Corey Burton was a decent replacement for Frolo in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance so if they do new VA rather than used archived recordings (like what the Medieval remake did) then I'd say Burton is the best choice.

I dunno about this. Square's western IP output could've been slightly divisive, but THQ Nordic doesn't strike me as particularly ambitious group either. Still I hope it'll be a change for the better, especially after that Avengers game.

https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1521033560936927232?s=20&t=dGI9IW_8cVWk9e-ogHdiig
This is an interesting thread. Essentially, many people forget that Square Enix had to financially support their Western studios constantly and even moreso when they were producing a game. Even so, the $300 million price tag seems very low when you realize that Embracer will own Tomb Raider and Deus Ex, which are both incredibly iconic if past-their-prime properties.

Some new games from those franchises would be nice to freshen things up, but considering modern gaming trends I remain cautious that whatever they choose to do with the IP's will live up to their legacy.