Western production of Square Enix games isn't closing up shop entirely despite the publisher selling the vast majority of its studios outside of Japan to the Embracer Group this morning. It has been confirmed the Japanese firm will retain the rights to the Just Cause, Life Is Strange, and Outriders IPs, and the indie-focused Square Enix Collective initiative shall continue to operate.
The three franchises in question have all received entries recently, with Just Cause 4 being the furthest out after a late 2018 launch. It's not known whether a fifth entry is in development, but Deck Nine Games only just wrapped up Life Is Strange: True Colors last year and Outriders will be expanded upon with the Worldslayer DLC in June. Meanwhile, the Square Enix Collective has helped publish the likes of Forgotton Anne, Circuit Superstars, and Black the Fall.
While Square Enix still has the final say on the use of these IPs, it has now handed over ownership of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex franchises as well as many others to the Embracer Group in a $300 million acquisition. Marvel's Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy team Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal are also included in the buyout. The sale is said to help "investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud".
[source News: Embracer Group to Buy Multiple Square Enix Studios and IPs in Huge Acquisition]
Comments 41
Just Cause is as good as dead anyway after their rinky-dink New York studio botched 3 and saw 4 undersell badly.
i guess those 3 are the most succesfull IP's the western branch has so make sense they would keep those.
@jdv95 surely Tomb Raider outsold those three in lifetime series sales - possibly multiple times over.
@jdv95 Also square enix didn't own the studios that worked on these IPs, so they probably couldn't just sell them with involving the original studios in the sales process. As I'm sure People Can Fly, Avalanche, and Dontnod would perfer the rights of these IP to revert back to them if Square Enix was just gonna sell them.
Those are...hmm interesting choices to keep over something like Tomb Raider but okay then.
@Golem25 lifetime sales for sure.
but from my memory the reboot kinda underperformed. it's why the next tomb raider is gonna be yet another reboot.
LIS is the most succesfull IP western square has in recent memory,outriders was popular enough for square enix to consider it a new franshise soon after release. and just cause just keeps getting new games no matter the reception. perhaps because they are not to expensive to make because of assets they keep re using.
meanwhile avengers was not at a success at all,deus ex is in limbo because of poor sales. guardians did well enough though,altough it had a slow start.
@Golem25 I didn’t like JC3 but when JC4 came out it made me appreciate it a whole lot more. JC2 is still the best. It’s like each new entry strips away more and more features, when it should be the opposite.
What a bummer that just cause wasn't saved from SE 's mismanagement.
Hope we get deus ex, thief, tomb raider games in near future, good ones.
Cool.i love just cause games.word up son
@BritneyfR_ee. Britney spears i enjoy all the just cause games.wheres justin Timberlake😂🤔😴😊.haha.word up son
@Golem25 both just cause 3 and 4 are good games.new york the greatest city in the 🌎 world playa.word up son
Just 'cause. It's really the only explanation for any of this.
I think it’s good Square offloaded the studios they didn’t quite understand, but I’m also glad they kept Deck Nine, as they did a wonderful job with True Colors. I see this decision to sell to be a strategic decision for Square to focus on what they are better at.
That said, I doubt Embracer will do better with the franchises (I mean seriously it’s the Charizard form of THQ’s Charmander), but I hope to be proven wrong. Jeez, I hope I’m wrong.
@somnambulance Deck Nine is an independent studio.
@jdv95 The reason they are keeping the IP is because they don't own the studios that produce them. SE clearly does not want to manage Western studios.
Just Cause 2 is one of my all time favourites but 3 and 4 were such a letdown that part of me wishes that the IP was sold off as well. Let someone else have a go.
As long as they kept Outriders 🤦🏻♂️
Square Enix’s overall worth has plummeted.
Honestly forgot about Outriders until now lol
I think we're all forgetting the status of the GREATEST game under the Squenix banner - Sleeping Dogs.
Didn't the first article already say all of this?
I'm looking forward to the next Life is Strange, but don't care much for Outriders or Just Cause.
Such oddway to unload franchises that have proven to successful.
I like Outriders...but to keep that IP over Tomb Raider is insane and keep Just Cause for the Legacy of Kain IP potential is even crazier.
They must really be sold on the NFT's.
From now on Square Enix is only the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts studio…
I'll take more outriders as i found it to be really good fun..never played life is strange so no comment there but i did enjoy just cause 1 and 2.. just cause 3 was a bit of a let down and i didnt play 4 at all..
The only games I’m interested in which relate to Square Enix in any way are Forespoken and FF16. Are these impacted at all? I’m guessing not as they likely come out of Japan and haven’t been mentioned.
I guess, having played all previous releases, that the next Life is Strange should be on my list but, honestly, for a narrative game it’s always been a bit hamfisted and lacking in nuance. Would have been ok with that one going elsewhere if it had.
Q: Why did Square retain some IP's and not others?
A: Just Cause.
Tim Getty's on the Kinda Funny Podcast had an interesting take on the sale: That it's evidence Square Enix is selling off the less profitable elements of their business to make the main part more attractive to potential buyers. I.e. Square Enix will look to sell themselves in the next few years. Not sure I buy it, but it did make me wonder.
It’s definitely a weird one. Like they made a deal with Ms for CD to develop perfect dark and then they sell the studio so shortly after.
🧐
I think there’s obviously a lot going on behind the scenes and no point making uninformed speculation just talking about known numbers.
@Golem25
I got the whole trilogy through PS plus I think and I'm still not interested to finish this bland series and that's coming from someone who was a fan on PS1.
SE just dropped the ball on many franchises, no matter how many metacritic links some detectives here post
Square Enix still own Final Fantasy though right? 😭
@Snake_V5
Yes, but the way they have been mis managing FF and other games it couldn't be any worse if some one else got them.
We might actually see more than one FF a gen !
I do find it strange they are keep the like of just cause , life is strange and outriders as they don't meet square expectations, mind with them they could sell two copies to every one on the planet and they would still say the same.
@JJ2 makes more sense of why they made the deal with Microsoft. Why have them work on something new, and better to have them work for someone else to earn money while we sell them
I'll post the unpopular opinion that JC3 is the best of the series, even better than JC2 in both story and gameplay. The DLC is also the best when it comes to the bavarium wingsuit and the OP weapons that turn Rico into a walking WMD. JC4 is an abomination though. Perhaps Avalanche fell into the same trap Saints Row did and made a game too fun and over-the-top to follow up. Time for a reboot.
@ryanburnsred
I agree with your take, 2 was great, but 3 was a blast. 4 was exactly that, an abomination. I think it was made by Avalanche B team, and it looked and played like it. I think Avalanche main team was working on Rage 2 at that time? Also ....(I loved Rage, and Rage 2.........) can't recall if that's not allowed or not
@playstation1995 I usually agree with most of your takes, but c'mon man JC4 was uniquely terrible,
Honestly, what did you enjoy about it?
No point sony buying square Enix now
@CallMeDuraSouka from what i play i taught it was cool.word up son
@Golem25
Unless the next Just Cause has co-op, I wouldn't care anyway.
While I've always enjoyed the series, it's hardly improved over the years. I primarily played them to mess around in the world and make my own fun. After 4 games of that, it's just no longer fun to do solo.
Screams to me that Square-Enix are preparing to be bought outright.
They know their real value is their Japanese IPs.
Final Fantasy alone is probably responsible for over 50% of their revenue
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