In what may very well be one of the best bargains in acquisitions history, the Swedish gaming collective Embracer Group is acquiring Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal from Square Enix for just $300 million. Compared to recent transactions like Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard or Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda, this seems like an amazing deal for them. And that’s still underselling the value here.
For a little more context, these 3 studios represent 1,100 employees, 3 studios, 8 locations, and over 50 unique games in the back-catalog. What titles are part of that catalog? Just some IPs like Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, and Tomb Raider. Maybe that last one got your attention. Crystal Dynamics is already working on a new Tomb Raider game in Unreal Engine 5 and Eidos-Montréal has confirmed they plan to bring Deus Ex to the next generation, also using Unreal Engine 5. These new ventures with beloved IP appear to be a good sign for the future of these studios, their new owner, and all the gamers out there excited to play these properties once again.
Speaking of the new owners, Embracer Group is a massive publisher that’s been on a buying spree the last few years. Most notably, they purchased Borderlands maker Gearbox for $1.3 billion. Embracer began as “Nordic Games” before becoming “THQ Nordic” after several acquisitions, including THQ, before finally becoming “Embracer Group” in 2019. Embracer Group now has 124 internal studios, 230 games in development, and over 14,000 employees. If you are not sure what games you have played from them, I guarantee you there is at least one. Meanwhile, Square Enix will continue to produce and publish from its remaining studios while now focusing on blockchain, AI, and the cloud as well.
Image from: Crystal Dynamics
