What you need to know
- Embracer Group acquired three studios — Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal — from Square Enix for $300 million earlier in 2022.
- Square Enix Montreal, which was renamed Onoma, is reportedly being shut down.
- Eidos Montreal will reportedly be assisting Xbox and Playground Games with the upcoming Fable game.
Embracer Group recently acquired three studios from Square Enix but is now shutting one of them down, while another will be assisting with an upcoming title from Xbox Game Studios.
That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which indicates that Embracer Group is closing Otomo, a studio formerly known as Square Enix Montreal. Under Square Enix, this team primarily worked on mobile games, developing titles such as Lara Croft GO and Hitman GO.
Square Enix Montreal was acquired by Embracer Group — alongside fellow western Square Enix studios Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal — for $300 million earlier in 2022, a deal that also included western Square Enix IP such as Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain. Once the acquisition finalized, Square Enix Montreal was rebranded as Onoma. The acquisition totaled around 1100 developers across all three studios, some of which will now be losing their jobs.
Curiously, Bloomberg's report also indicates that some of the employees working at Onoma will be transferred to Eidos Montreal. The latter studio is also subject to cost-saving efforts, with one unnamed project being canceled and another having its overall scope reduced.
While Eidos Montreal is reportedly in early work on a new Deux Ex game, the studio will also reportedly be working with Xbox and Playground Games on the upcoming Fable. The revival of Fable, rumored and hinted at for years, was officially announced in 2020, though there's been little news since then.
Curiously, Eidos Montreal's sister studio Crystal Dynamics is also working on an upcoming title from Xbox Game Studios. In addition to working on the next Tomb Raider game, Crystal Dynamics was previously confirmed to be assisting The Initiative with the Perfect Dark reboot.
