Days after selling a handful of studios and licenses, including Tomb Raider, Square Enix is already looking to the future. And that will go through buying new foals and creating new studios.
Barely freed from its western studios, Square Enix is looking to expand its family. A week after selling Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and other licenses to Embracer Group, the Japanese publisher plans to redesign its video game portfolio.
Square Enix will create and buy new studios
A medium-term strategy that the Japanese company hopes to accelerate by creating new studios, acquiring others and merging. The goal would then be to create new solid licenses and strengthen development capacities. Why did you resell strong licenses back then? Unofficially, the failure of Marvel’s Avengers and the disappointing sales of Marvel’s Guardians of Galaxy have a lot to do with it.
For its part, Square Enix had announced that its decision was motivated by a desire to invest in AI, the cloud and blockchain (NFT, crypto, etc.). However, the speech is not the same in their document intended for investors. The publisher claims that:
The aim of the sale of a selection of Western studios and their licenses is sustainable growth through selection and better pooling of the company’s resources. This will make it possible to better organize foreign game releases with the Tokyo headquarters and transform the group’s business portfolio.
End of takeover rumors by Sony?
Although Square Enix has sold more than 50 licenses for $300 million, the publisher has kept its hands on a few western franchises: Life is Strange, Just Cause and Outriders. However, it will be the Square Enix External Studios and Square Enix Collective branches that will take care of Western games.
With such statements, the Japanese group has more or less silenced the rumors of a takeover by Sony that have been surfing the web for weeks. However, an enhanced partnership between the two Japanese giants still seems likely. Keep in mind that it was originally about a closer relationship, with PS5 exclusives for Final Fantasy games at stake. The license will also soon be around its 35th anniversary with announcementse Anniversary. Maybe we’ll finally get news from FF7 Remake 2 in addition to Final Fantasy 16?
