Square Enix sells Tomb Raider and Crystal Dynamics to invest in blockchain games
Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 looks like it’s not happening, as Square Enix sells its developer, plus Tomb Raider and its studio, for $300 million.
Forget Microsoft buying Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, the most shocking game news of the year so far is that Square Enix has sold all of what used to be British publisher Eidos to Embracer Group for $300 million.
The deal includes multiple famous franchises, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy Of Kain, as well as the developers that make them, namely Crystal Dynamics and Guardians Of The Galaxy maker Eidos-Montréal.
They’ve all been sold to Embracer Group for $300 million (£239m), the Swedish media giant that has been buying up games and other companies for years, including THQ Nordic, Koch Media, Gearbox Entertainment, and many smaller studios.
As unexpected as all this is perhaps the strangest element is why Square Enix says they did it, which is to enable ‘the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud’.
They’ve been talking about this, and interest in NFTs, for a while now, even if most fans hoped it was just them trying to appear fashionable to investors, especially as they’ve never previously given any hint that they were about to sell all their Western IP and developers.
They will still publish some Western games, but the two franchises they mentioned in the announcement – Outriders and Life Is Strange – are both by external developers that they don’t own.
‘Going forward, the company’s development function will comprise its studios in Japan, Square Enix External Studios, and Square Enix Collective’, the company said.
While some fans will no doubt be pleased that this seems to refocus Square Enix
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