Square Enix Montréal to be renamed Studio Onoma after acquisition by Embracer

Square Enix Montreal, the studio behind Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO, will be called Studio Onoma. The name change is part of the acquisition by Swedish game company Embracer Group, which was completed in August.

The new brand goes according to Onoma serve as ‘an umbrella for multiple products, programs and initiatives’. The new name should also ‘not hinder the company from growing with the market’. The studio is not sharing concrete details about any expansion plans. The name Onoma was chosen because ‘that is the Greek word for ‘name’ and that names offer endless possibilities,’ says the company.

Onoma currently has three new smartphone games in development. The developer is working on Tomb Raider Reloaded, a Space Invaders game and Avatar Generations. The latter is based on the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. All these games are stated to be ‘coming soon’.

In May, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal were sold by Square Enix to Embracer Group for $300 million. The Swedish company also acquired the rights to franchises such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief. Crystal Dynamics and Eidos-Montréal are not known to be renamed; only Square Enix Montréal gets a new company name.

Now that the acquisition is complete, Embracer owns 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 thirty “triple-a” titles. Crystal Dynamics previously announced that it is working on a new Tomb Raider game with Unreal Engine 5.

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