Embracer Group enters into an agreement to acquire Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montréal

[ThereAreFourNaan]

Embracer Group enters into an agreement to acquire Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montréal amongst other assets - Embracer Group

Embracer Group AB (”Embracer”) has entered into an agreement to acquire the development studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and a catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games from SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS...

embracer.com

This was extremely unexpected.

Embracer Group AB ("Embracer") has entered into an agreement to acquire the development studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and a catalogue of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain and more than 50 back-catalogue games from SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. ("Square Enix Holdings"). In total, the acquisition includes ~1,100 employees across three studios and eight global locations. The total purchase price amounts to USD 300 million on a cash and debt free basis, to be paid in full at closing. Embracer has secured additional long-term debt funding commitments for this and other transactions in the pipeline. The company today reiterates its current Operational EBIT forecast for FY 21/22, FY 22/23, and FY 23/24. The transaction is subject to various regulatory and other external approvals and is expected to close during the second quarter of Embracer's financial year 22/23 (July-September 2022).


Embracer will hold a webcast presentation for investors, analysts and media on 2 May 2022 at CET 09.00. Please find details in a separate invitation that will follow this release.

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Only 300 million dollars is quite shocking.

 

[Shoot]

Whoa $300 million????

 

[DuvalDevil]

Wtf??

 

[BrickArts295]

Lol Square 🤦‍♂️

 

[cvbas]

Holy shit. But I'm kinda glad the former-SE western studios are now their own thing.

New Deus Ex, please.

 

[Rhaknar]

wait... so they are buying the western part of SE?

 

[gabdeg]

Lol

 

[Maquiladora]

I said wow

 

[nelsonroyale]

Embracer really does sound quite foreboding. Like a facehugger

 

[Acidote]

The fuck

 

[Murlin]

Surprised S-E was willing to give up all their scapegoats for whenever shareholders were unhappy with the financials.

 

[Deleted member 68874]

JFC.

Please take care of Deus Ex.
That's cheap af, god damm what a steal.
Further evidence Square is run by massive idiots.

 

[inner-G]

Wow, maybe I can finally stop getting my hopes up when I see "Square-Enix Publisher Sale" only to end up with no JRPGs on there?

 

[supercommodore]

Holy crap lol

Feel like that is shortsighted of Square and a good pick up for Embracer.

 

[Xando]

That seems like a steal compared to bungie

 

[Doc Laserstein]

Well, shit.

 

[Alex4]

Extremely unexpected.

 

[VilleEricson]

Shit… New Deus Ex please.

 

[RavenK92]

Honest question: I know Embracer has been buying up a LOT of studios and consolidation is bad, but as far as I'm aware, they don't keep their studios from developing for certain platforms (eg no XBox version for a switch studio, etc) so if Square were to sell parts of their gaming studios, wouldn't they be the best bet? Why do people hate Embracer and Tencent so much?

 

[pahlke1]

Holy shit!

 

[Lampa]

Would have expected more than $300 mil for all that. They're buying a lot of studious with this, not sure I like it.

 

[Gangrel]

New Deus Ex and Thief games would be sweet.

 

[bsigg]

What the fuck lol

 

[Gavalanche]

what the fuck?? what??

 

[daninthemix]

The heck? The Tomb Raider IP seems like that would be worth more than $300m alone.

 

[Deleted member 10981]

Something about this company acquiring everything scares me.

 

[cvbas]

Honest question: I know Embracer has been buying up a LOT of studios and consolidation is bad, but as far as I'm aware, they don't keep their studios from developing for certain platforms (eg no XBox version for a switch studio, etc) so if Square were to sell parts of their gaming studios, wouldn't they be the best bet? Why do people hate Embracer and Tencent so much?

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Yeah. I much prefer acquisitions by companies without their own platforms as well.

 

[ToadPacShakur]

Fucckkkkkkkkk…. I mean, I get why Microsoft is treading very lightly while trying to close the Activision deal but these studios were right up their alley

 

[bloodyroarx]

Actually having people who wont constantly throw these studios under the bus will be awesome

 

[henhowc]

Random Sunday

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

They sold Tomb raider? Or I read something wrong?

 

[GamingCJ]

That seems like a steal compared to bungie

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Only for companies that primarily care about revenue growth, and not so much about profits.

 

[Sabretooth]

I never asked for this.

But as long as I get a proper Deus Ex, I don't care

 

[MADSUPERVILLAIN]

Honestly just surprised SE held on to their western studios for this long.

 

[fiendcode]

Only $300m is an insane deal with the IP.

 

[Abi]

Honestly this is probably for the better. Square clearly didn't know what to do with these IPs, and probably had not intention of using most of them.

 

[DopeyFish]

O_O

 

[MondoMega]

Can't say that was expected.

 

[aspiegamer]

Um. What. Part of Square? They're piecemealing themselves and IPs? And for seemingly peanuts?
Welp, you heard it here folks. Final Fantasy is apparently out there if you're willing to pay enough for it, and low bids are easily accepted.

 

[Xenosaga]

Yeah not surprised at all they are willing to sell, but surprised at the price.

 

[The Lord of Cereal]

Goddamn, they've been Embraced for only 300 million? Tomb Raider is worth that alone…

 

[Gavalanche]

They also got the IP??? That just seems really cheap? for a bunch of successful IP and three talented studios? If this was April Fools i would assume this was a joke.

 

[vestan]

Holy shit, ok
Knowing Embracer, we'll probably get a Deus Ex remake sometime in the next few years and a sequel to MD after that

 

[Knight613]

That seems really cheap.

 

[nelsonroyale]

Avengers probably led to this

 

[PRrambo_]

Whats this mean for Avengers

 

[Shoot]

Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal are fantastic studios for that price. Embracer Group made out like bandits. Square Enix has no clue what they're doing.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Whoa, that's... wild. I'm shocked Square Enix gave up basically their entire Western division. I hope this works out for all those studios. I'm really looking forward to the next Tomb Raider.

I hadn't heard the name "Embracer Group" before. Apparently they used to be THQ Nordic? They own Gearbox and Deep Silver? They just bought Dark Horse Comics as well? Holy shit.

 

[GrantDaNasty]

I feel there are two perspectives on this, mainly focusing on whether this is good or bad for SE.

I personally think SE has tried to push their western IPs for a good 5-6 year period in the 2010s while at the same time they also seemed to be first in line to be at fault when the financials looked poor despite the Japanese side of SE perhaps not always being as stellar (FFXIII, FFXV, FFXIV 1.0 etc.)

 

[bloodyroarx]

Now who will Square-Enix throw under the bus when their Japanese games don't sell?