Embracer Acquires Tomb Raider And Deus Ex Development Studios From Square Enix

Embracer Group is acquiring the rights to Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and several legacy games from Square Enix for $300 million. The developers of those games are also in the hands of the Swedish game company. Those are Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montreal.

Embracer has a agreement concluded with Square Enix for the acquisition. The deal has yet to be approved by regulatory authorities, but Embracer expects it to close in the third quarter of this year.

The Swedish Embracer Group acquires three Square Enix studios and associated intellectual properties. The main title is Tomb Raider. According to Embracer, 88 million Tomb Raider games have been sold worldwide to date. In second place is Deus Ex, with 12 million copies sold. Thief and Legacy of Kain are also among the games that Embracer gets their hands on. In addition, after the acquisition, the game company will receive income from ‘more than fifty back-catalog games’. Those are games that the studios made in recent years and are still being sold.

Crystal Dynamics was founded in 1992 and has 300 employees. The studio made the reboot of Tomb Raider in 2013 and was also responsible for the subsequent Rise of the Tomb Raider. The studio is currently working on a new Tomb Raider game, which will therefore be released under the Embracer banner.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Founded in 2007, Eidos-Montréal has nearly 500 employees and in recent years has released games such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Thief 4. According to Embracer, the studio is now working on several projects including new games in “Beloved franchises and original new titles’.

Square Enix Montréal has nearly 150 employees and was founded in 2011. This studio makes mobile games based on franchises such as Hitman, Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. Even after the acquisition, the studio will continue to make mobile games, Embracer says.

Deus Ex : Human Revolution

When the acquisition is completed, Embracer will own 124 studios worldwide with more than 14,000 employees, including 10,000 game developers. More than 230 games are currently being developed by the Embracer Group, including more than 30 ‘triple a’ titles. It is not yet clear which business unit will include the studios that Embracer is acquiring from Square Enix.

Embracer has been the largest European game company since the beginning of this year. The company overtook Ubisoft with the multi-billion dollar acquisition of board game maker Asmodee. Embracer, previously known as THQ Nordic, has made numerous acquisitions in recent years and doesn’t seem to stop there anytime soon. At the end of last year, the company said it wanted to acquire dozens of game companies.