Square Enix Sells Major IPs 'Tomb Raider' And 'Deus Ex' Just In Time For NFT Market To Crash

On January 1st, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda posted an excited (and confusing) letter announcing his vision to bring NFTs into Square Enix games. On Monday, it appears the company took the first major step in that plan, selling classic IPs Deux Ex, Tomb Raider and Thief to The Embracer Group in order to "move forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud." On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that NFT sales are down 92 percent from their peak in September.

Ah, well. Nevertheless …

SQUARE ENIX: We have sold Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to fund our ambitions in the magic bean industry. We believe magic beans have a bright future and we plan to dramatically increase our investment in bean-related efforts as a result of this deal pic.twitter.com/xDkbR4Tg2p

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) May 2, 2022

There have been signs the NFT market has been in decline for months. In March, Forbes reported that interest in NFTs was notably waning, and in April, an NFT of Jack Dorsey's first tweet received a high bid of just $14,000 after the seller expected bids of $50 million.

Despite these warnings, Square Enix is evidently going full steam ahead with NFTs, blockchains and other Web3 buzzwords, despite them not working out for many game publishers so far. They're now out Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal Square Enix Montreal, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Thief and Legacy of Kain — and will presumably use the capital to attempt to get Web3 gaming to work.

Square's big bet on NFTs right as they're in freefall led to schadenfreude from gamers, who have repeatedly and vocally resisted the integration of NFTs into games, as many feel they are merely a means for publishers to squeeze more money out of gamers on top of other negatives.

Square is now only half a square because they're looking like this L right now https://t.co/yHcppV7s6L

— Mwel 🍡 riku's cheek squisher (@emetsus) May 4, 2022

Retweet to scare Square Enix CEOs. https://t.co/khZlHjPWRW

— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) May 4, 2022

This bout to be Square Enix real soon pic.twitter.com/bpZjwZiqgy

— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) May 5, 2022

Square Enix selling their western studios for 300 million so they can 'invest in blockchain' is very funny to me. Like selling your house for magic beans.

— Joseph Gribbin✨GRAPPLE DOG OUT NOW!!✨ (@JoGribbin) May 2, 2022

Square Enix selling off Eidos for basically nothing just to fund blockchain stuff is the funniest shit I’ve heard in my life, love this fucking clown car company, this now means Tomb Raider will be GotY and that crypto will crater just as they introduce Kingdom Hearts NFTs.

— chris person (@Papapishu) May 2, 2022

We'll have to wait and see if Square's big bet on the blockchain works out, but for now, it's not looking good.