Square Enix has been on a studio selling spree. Lately, the company only recently sold Eidos Interactive, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montreal for a shockingly low price. And it seems there are no plans to slow down yet.
After its latest earnings call, the publisher plans on selling its stake in a few more studios. This is in an effort to devote more time and resources toward other specific titles.
According to video game industry analyst David Gibson, Square Enix is still evaluating its portfolio and is planning on offering a stake in some of its studios to interested parties. The company wants to focus “resources mainly on Japan titles.”
- Phase 2 = So SE is looking to sell stakes in its studios to others to improve capital efficiency. Right when others like Sony etc are buyers. I would expect Sony, Tencent, Nexon etc would be interested.
— David Gibson (@gibbogame) August 5, 2022
Some of the main studios that Square Enix owns right now are the four Creative Business Units, Luminous Productions, and RPG Factory. This sudden change in strategy is odd, mainly because Square Enix has no real reason to sell off its studios. As Gibson said, the company has zero debt and has more than enough cash to continue game development:
Gibson also talked about the sale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal to Sweden’s Embracer group, citing the main reason to be that they “cannibalized” sales of other studios.
- Crystal Dynamics/Eidos (CD/E) sale was driven by concerns that the titles cannibalized sales of the rest of the group and so it could improve capital efficiency
What’s Next For Square Enix?
The sale of the western studios was phase 1; the second phase is the evaluation of all of its current studios. The company is interested in investing in blockchain and NFTs. That should be completely fine unless they are somehow involved with the company’s beloved franchises.
According to Eidos Montreal’s Founder, the studios being sold are all in preparation for being bought out by Sony.
There is a lot to look forward to from Square Enix because it has more than enough games in the pipeline, like Final Fantasy 16/Remake Part 2, Forspoken, and the recently announced Tactics Ogre: Reborn.
