The Embracer Group has officially shut down Onoma, the video game studio formerly known as Square Enix Montréal. Embracer purchased Square Enix Montréal alongside Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal back in May as part of a deal where Embracer receives full rights to the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex franchises. With Onoma’s closure, several projects at Eidos will reshuffle to make room for new titles.
The news comes courtesy of a Bloomberg report. There, it was revealed that Square Enix sold Square Enix Montréal, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos to Embracer due to the poor performances of recent titles released by those companies. Square Enix Montréal’s main focus was making mobile titles based on IPs they own like Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex. Embracer officially changed Square Enix Montréal’s name to Onoma only three weeks ago, which makes the studio’s sudden closure surprising. The workers at Onoma were informed about the company’s closure in a meeting earlier today, with several Onoma staff members getting the opportunity to move to Eidos.
The reason given for the closure is that Embracer wants to refocus primarily on PC and Console gaming. Eidos Montréal will remain intact, but the company will focus on several new projects. As part of the reshuffling, Eidos is now working on a new intellectual property, a new title in the Deus Ex franchise, and entering a new partnership with Xbox to co-develop games like Fable. Also part of the restructuring is that an unnuanced project and a Stranger Things title are canceled. It was also said that the Deus Ex game is in very early development, meaning it will be a while before we hear or see anything about the game.
Embracer Group was formerly THQ Nordic AB before switching its name in 2019. Embracer owns several high-profile gaming studios, including Gearbox Entertainment, Saber Interactive, and THQ.
Published: Nov 1, 2022 02:39 pm