While the attention today may be on whether Amazon intends to acquire EA, as there have been conflicting reports, another acquisition has wrapped up. It should be noted that any acquisition takes time and undergoes a lot of scrutiny, such as whatMicrosoft is dealing with on the Activision Blizzard dealright now, but for Embracer Group, that’s all behind it with one acquisition. A lot of the time involved may also be up to the size of the companies involved.
Back in May,Embracer Group revealed it had agreed to acquire three major studios from Square Enix:Marvel’s Avengersdeveloper Crystal Dynamics,Guardians of the Galaxydeveloper Eidos Montreal, and mobile game developer Square Enix Montreal. This $300 million dollar deal also gives Embracer Group rights to more than 50 IPs, includingTomb Raider, Thief, Deus Ex, The Legacy of Kain,and more. This deal has obviously taken some time to complete but it has not gone into effect, affecting more than 1000 former Square Enix employees.
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With all conditions of the transaction and required regular approvals fulfilled,Embracer Grouphas completed the acquisition. These three companies will form the 12th operative group under the Embracer Group Umbrella, which also includes THQ Nordic, Plaion (formerly Koch Media), Coffee Stain, Amplified Game Invest, Saber Interactive, DECA Games, Gearbox Entertainment, Easybrain, Asmodee, Dark Hose, and Embracer Freemode. All in all, Embracer Group employs around 13,000 people and has 120 game studios under its belt. It’s the biggest collective in the industry, and one that has been growing a lot lately.
Embracer will is set to reveal new information about this acquisition “at a later date,” and it’s likely a new name for Square Enix Montreal is eventually revealed. But Embracer Group has not been solely focused on this either. These former Square Enix studios and associated IPs is no doubt a big step, but Embracer also recently revealed it was buying out Tripwire Interactive, Limited Run Games, Singtrix, Tuxedo Labs, Bitwave Games, and Gioteck. In all of this, it also gained IP rights to produceLord of the Ringsgamesand other odds and ends.
Embracer Groupcontinues to grow rapidly and has roughly 150 games in development right now. WhileCrystal Dynamics will likely continue to focus onMarvel’s Avengers, more could easily take place. Ultimately, Crystal, Eidos, and Square Enix Montreal could very well add more to that in-development pile.
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