Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal, and a catalog of IPs and games are now officially owned by Embracer Group after the company confirmed they have completed the deal to acquire them from Square Enix. The deal will see the acquired studios form their own operating group under Embracer’s umbrella, following in the footsteps of companies like Gearbox Software and THQ Nordic.
Square Enix no longer controls IPs like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex
The deal between Embracer Group and Square Enix sees the former company take over the three development studios — Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and the soon-to-be-renamed Square Enix Montreal — as well as “a catalog of IPs” and more than 50 back-catalog games. This includes Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Marvel’s Avengers. The deal took just under four months to be completed having been announced at the start of May, and now fans will be hoping some of these dormant IPs will be getting reboots, sequels, or perhaps even remakes seeing as that is one of Embracer’s favorite modus operandi.
For now, a new Tomb Raider game has been confirmed to be in development and will be built on Unreal Engine 5. Crystal Dynamics will also continue to work on the Perfect Dark reboot with The Initiative. Marvel’s Avengers will also continue with its current roadmap of upcoming content, although future content will require a new deal with Marvel. On the other hand, rumors of a new Deus Ex game were quickly squashed after it emerged it was an innocuous comment taken wildly out of context.
In other gaming news, Nintendo has confirmed they have “no plans” to increase the price of their Nintendo Switch consoles following yesterday’s PS5 price increase. Elsewhere, Hogwarts Legacy will not have a morality system similar to that found in other RPGs.
