Embracer Group acquires Square Enix Holdings studios; Includes 3 studios, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and more.

Embracer Group has just confirmed that they have entered into an agreement to acquire development studios Crystal Dynamics (Marvel’s Avengers, Tomb Raider), Square Enix-Montreal, Eidos-Montreal and a catalog of popular IPs. These IPs include major gaming franchises such as Tomb Raider, Deux Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and more.

The deal also includes more than 50 games from the back catalog from Square Enix Holdings. The acquisition includes approximately 1,100 employees across three studios and eight offices worldwide.

The total cost of the acquisition is US$300 million. The acquisition is the latest in a major merger in the gaming industry after PlayStation acquired Bungie and Microsoft acquired Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.

Embracer Group to acquire 3 major studios and popular IPs from Square Enix Holdings

The start of the year signaled that after the news of Bethesda’s acquisition by Microsoft broke, more major acquisitions would follow. SIE CEO Jim Ryan also apparently confirmed that PlayStation will be making more acquisitions within a year after SIE acquired Haven Studios led by Jade Raymond.

Square Enix Holdings owns a number of large IPs, making them an ideal target for the acquisition of a number of major gaming and media companies. Embracer Group was previously known primarily to the gaming audience as THQ Nordic AB as part of the Nordic Games Group.

The transaction is expected to close between July and September 2022. The gaming community is looking at this quite positively, remaining optimistic about the resurgence of some popular IPs such as Deux Ex and Legacy of Kain.

It will be interesting to see where this new acquisition leads and whether Embracer decides to bring back certain IP addresses. Square Enix’s press release also elaborates that the acquisition will give the company the opportunity to “better align our overseas publishing functions”with their Tokyo-based organization .