The Swedish gaming company Embracer Group has just entered into a grand deal to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal for a price of $ 300 million, the company confirms in a press release. The deal includes a “catalog of IPs, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Cain and more than 50 back-catalog games from Square Enix Holdings,” it wrote. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
These studies represent about 1,100 employees in eight global locations, the company noted. Once finalized, Embracer will have 14,000 employees, 10,000 game developers and 124 in-house studios. It has more than 230 games in development, 30 of which are AAA titles. “This acquisition will bring further scale to Embracer’s current AAA segment, and Embracer will have one of the largest pipelines of PC / console game content across the industry, across all genres,” it said.
As part of the deal, Eidos Montreal plans to revive Deus Ex and use new Unreal Engine 5 technology, the studio said during the acquisition conference, which Shack News reported. “At this point, we are crazy people who have decided to revive Deus Ex IP as our first game,” said Eidos Montreal Studio Head David Anfossi. “A new team, a very complex production, a new technology and a new studio, an easy challenge.” Anfossi noted that Deus Ex console sales have exceeded 12 million units.
Last month, Crystal Dynamics announced that it was developing a new Tomb Raider game, also based on Unreal Engine 5, with plans to “push the envelope of fidelity.” The studio also evolved Marvel’s Avengersamong other titles. Eidos Montréal created Thief 4, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and more, and “working on a host of AAA projects, including both new releases from beloved franchises and original IP,” according to Embracer’s press release.
As we explained in a feature last year, Embracer is perhaps “the greatest game publisher you’ve ever heard of,” founded by Swedish entrepreneur Lars Wingefors. It has made a number of acquisitions over the past few years, most notably by buying Saber Interactive for $ 525 million and Gearbox Software for $ 1.3 billion.
It now owns a whole list of iconic franchises, especially in the classic category. On top of the newly acquired IP, it controls Saints Row, Goat Simulator, Dead Island, Metro, TimeSplitters, Borderlands, Darksiders, MX vs. ATV, Kingdoms of Amalur, Satisfactory, Wreckfest, Insurgency and World War Z. For some of those who f. ex. TimeSplitters, the company has promised new titles from the original developers.
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