New owner Deus Ex and Tomb Raider sees ‘a lot of potential’ in sequels, remakes

The Embracer Group says it sees “a lot of potential” in recently acquired from Square Enix game franchises such as Deus Ex and Tomb Raider. It sees that ‘not only in sequels, but also in remakes, remasters, spin-offs and transmedia projects within the [Embracer] Group’.

On the one hand, it is logical that the Embracer Group has a return want benefit from its new investments. On the other hand, it is a significant change of course compared to what the Japanese publisher Square Enix did with the game series in question. Two of the three major franchises mentioned above, Deus Ex and Thief, were not known to be actively exploited by the Japanese company. The last major Deus Ex game dates from 2016 and the last Thief from 2014. Square Enix has repeatedly stated in previous quarterly meetings that the franchises were not performing as desired in the market.

The Embracer Group, a Swedish investment company, expects the $300 million acquisition to be officially completed sometime in the summer months. 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.

Another example of a franchise acquired from Square is Legacy of Kain. 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. The studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal will also be acquired. The Just Cause, Life is Strange, Outriders, and the more Japan-focused game series franchises will remain with Square.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided