2022 continues to see the video game industry shaken by sales and acquisitions. Embracer Group has announced that they have come to terms to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal from Square Enix, including the studios' major IPs such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain, along with over 50 others.

The announcement was made in a press release on the Embracer Group website, which confirmed that Embracer Group is paying $300 million for the studios and their IPs and will be paid on a "cash and debt-free basis, to be paid in full at closing.” The release also confirmed that the deal is set to close during the second quarter of Embracer’s financial year for 2022-2023, which means they will fully acquire the studios sometime between July and September 2022. ”We are thrilled to welcome these studios into the Embracer Group," says Lars Wingefors, Co-founder and Group CEO, Embracer Group, in the release. "We recognize the fantastic IP, world-class creative talent, and track record of excellence that have been demonstrated time and again over the past decades. It has been a great pleasure meeting the leadership teams and discussing future plans for how they can realize their ambitions and become a great part of Embracer.”

Crystal Dynamics is the studio behind the recent Tomb Raider reboot, as well as its 2018 sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider and recently announced the start of development for a new entry in the series running on Unreal Engine 5. They were also previously announced to be a support studio on the upcoming Perfect Dark reboot by The Initiative, which will not change due to this acquisition. They were also behind last year's highly acclaimed title Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, which took home a Game Award for Best Narrative at the Game Awards 2021.

shadow of the tomb raider
Image via Square Enix

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Eidos-Montréal is the studio behind the third entry in the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy as well as Deus Ex Human Revolution and Deus Ex Mankind Divided. Embracer's release says that the studio is "working on a host of AAA projects including both new releases from beloved franchises and original IP." Square Enix Montréal is a studio behind many mobile titles based on popular franchises from the IPs mentioned above such as Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go. They will continue to develop mobile games based on these AAA IPs under Embracer. All in all, this deal will see about 1100 employees from these three studios, across eight locations around the world, coming under the Embracer Group umbrella.

As for why this sale was made, Square Enix said in their own release that "the transaction will also provide an opportunity to better align our overseas publishing function with our organization in Tokyo, revisit the current governance structure and associated reporting lines, and advance integrated group management with the goal of maximizing the worldwide revenue generated from future titles launched by the group’s studios in Japan and abroad." They also said that they are turning their focus to investments in things such as the blockchain, AI, and the cloud while also confirmed that overseas developers will continue to develop titles such as Just Cause, Outriders, and Life is Strange. Square Enix America and Europe CEO Phil Rogers also provided a statement in Embracer Group's release, saying:

Embracer is the best kept secret in gaming: a massive, decentralized collection of entrepreneurs whom we are thrilled to become a part of today. It is the perfect fit for our ambitions: make high-quality games, with great people, sustainably, and grow our existing franchises to their best versions ever. Embracer allows us to forge new partnerships across all media to maximize our franchises’ potential and live our dreams of making extraordinary entertainment.

This acquisition from Embracer Group joins an ever-growing list of acquisitions this year in the video game industry, which kicked off back in January when Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive announced it was acquiring mobile giant Zynga for nearly $13 billion. This was shortly followed up with the shocking announcement that Microsoft was acquiring Activision-Blizzard for a crazy $68.7 billion. Sony announced shortly after that they were acquiring Destiny developers Bungie for $3.6 billion.

Embracer Group is set to close this deal with Square Enix to acquire these studios and IPs sometime between July and September 2022.