From Tomb Raider To Deus Ex: Square Enix Sells All Its Western Games To Embracer In $300-Million Deal

Square Enix, however, will continue to publish Just Cause, Outriders, and Life Is Strange.

Square Enix — the Japan-based publisher that brought out popular game franchises such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain — has now sold its Western game studios to Embracer, a Swedish gaming and media holdings firm. In a $300-million deal (cash and debt-free basis), Embracer has now acquired all three Western Square Enix studios: Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal.

On May 2, Embracer announced that the acquisition includes nearly 1,100 employees across eight global locations. While Embracer confirmed that the deal also encompasses “more than 50 back-catalogue games”, it didn’t offer exact details of all the Square Enix IPs that will now belong to Embracer.

However, in an Execution of Share Transfer Agreement, Square Enix confirmed that its overseas studios "will continue to publish franchises such as Just Cause, Outriders, and Life Is Strange." It appears that the studio is not yet ready to let go of some best-performing franchises. 

So, what does it mean for gamers? In a nutshell, nothing to worry about. Embracer already has its claims on several popular studios and franchises such as Darksiders from THQ Nordic and Saints Row from Deep Silver. While Darksiders titles are still available for purchase on various platforms at standard prices and a much-awaited Saints Row reboot is set to release on August 23 this year. 

This is in contrast to the confusion that arose earlier this year after Microsoft announced a $68.7-billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the developer of the Call of Duty franchise. This led to a brief scare among gamers that the popular first-person shooter titles may soon exit the PlayStation Store, owned and operated by Sony. 

Quickly putting an end to the rumours, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer tweeted on January 21 that the Call of Duty games would continue to be available on the PlayStation platform, along with other stores as earlier. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.at Call of Duty games will continue to remain on the PlayStation platform as earlier. “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship,” wrote Spencer.

What remains to be seen, however, is who eventually ends up owning Square Enix’s Marvel catalogue. 

So far, Square Enix has brought out two games under the gamut — Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. While the former fell face flat due to its vexing microtransaction-based ‘Games as a Service’ treatment, the latter shone bright due to its old-school single player campaign. It should be noted that both the games were developed by Square Enix’s Western studios. 

While Square Enix in its Share Transfer Agreement mentioned the aforementioned games that it will still continue to own, no mentions were made of its Marvel lineup.