Embracer Group closes former Square Enix Montreal shortly after acquisition

Embracer Group closes the doors of the already acquired game studio Onoma. This studio, formerly Square Enix Montréal, developed the mobile Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO, among others. Some employees are transferred to sister studio Eidos Montréal.

Embracer Group confirms opposite Bloomberg that closing the studio will affect about two hundred employees. Some of the employees will be transferred to Eidos-Montréal, although it is not known how many people are involved.

In May, Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal and Square Enix Montréal studios to Embracer Group for $300 million. At the beginning of October, the latter studio was renamed Onoma, with ‘onama’ being the Greek word for ‘name’, thus reflecting the ‘endless possibilities of names’.

Bloomberg reports based on anonymous stakeholders that Embracer Group is closing the studio in question due to budget cuts. Eidos Montreal would also be affected by this. This studio would reduce the size of one unannounced project and cancel another entirely. It was reported on Wednesday that the Canadian developer is working on a new Deus Ex game; it’s not clear if this game will be affected by the alleged budget cuts.