Company Sony may be interested in buying a Japanese publishing house Square Enixwhich owns such game series as Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Nier. About this in an interview with the publication Gamesindustry.biz told Stefan D’Astous — one of the founders of the studio Eidos Montrealwho left in 2013.
As explained by the head involved in the production Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Thiefrecent news regarding the sale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal studios to the Embracer Group holding directly says that in the end the Japanese leadership remained dissatisfied with its plan for “Western expansion” that began in the past decade.
Despite the successful start of a new life for franchises such as Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and Hitman, the performance of these brands ultimately failed to satisfy the top of Square Enix.
“I began to lose faith in a scenario where Square Enix would help lead Eidos to success. I began to lose faith in our London office. In their financial statements, Square Enix would add a line or two indicating that management was disappointed with the performance of certain games . That these projects failed to reach the predicted values … This was exclusively for games created outside of Japan, “said the former head of Eidos.
In the case of Hitman, the command IO Interactive bought out her company and became completely independent. But the situation with Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics may be somewhat more interesting, says Stephan D’Astus.
In particular, the former head of Eidos heard rumors that Sony was “strongly interested” in buying Square Enix, but only its Japanese branches. The platform holder does not need Western offices. It is for this reason that President Yosuke Matsuda was ready to let go of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, says D’Astus.
“If you read between the lines, then the Japanese office of Square Enix just lost its original fuse [в отношении западных разработчиков]. All of this has to be said in the context of a lot of obvious rumors regarding major business mergers, in the context of rumors that Sony might be very interested in Square Enix. Personally, I heard that Sony needs the Tokyo office of Square Enix, they do not see the need for other branches.. In my understanding, it is for this reason that Matsuda-san arranged such a flea market [продав Eidos Montreal и Crystal Dynamics]”, – Stefan D’Astus shared his thoughts.
This theory is also supported by the fact that the deal between Square Enix and the Embracer Group is valued at just $300 million. Given the portfolio of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, as well as the number of offices and employees of both studios, Stephane D’Astus considers such a sum simply “unreasonable”.
For comparison, the company Gearbox Softwarein charge of brand development BorderlandsEmbracer Group acquired ownership for $1.3 billion.
“Gearbox employs regarding a thousand people. Eidos currently employs regarding a thousand people. The former actually own only Borderlands, and the Eidos portfolio has five unique IPs. So why are they being sold for four times less?
The whole situation is like a train wreck that you watch in slow motion. It was clear that the train was moving towards the abyss. Perhaps this justifies the price tag of 300 million. But that’s just a tiny amount. Complete nonsense,” the former head of Eidos continues to argue.
In a conversation with Gamesindustry.biz Stéphane D’Astus also explicitly stated that, according to him, Eidos Montreal does not know how to sell their games.. The studio has a lot of talented people, but the studio’s business dynamics remains very low. D’Astus is convinced that if the current management of the company does not work out an effective strategy, then it will hardly be necessary to expect positive results as part of the Embracer Group..
Recall that the Embracer Group management has already noted interest in working with Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain brands.
Recently, Eidos Montreal started studying Unreal Engine 5. In turn, the Crystal Dynamics studio is engaged in a new release of the adventure game Tomb Raider.
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