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Square Deal: Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, et al to be sold to a Swedish company

(grumbles) I know, I know. Jack Friedman left the company years before its bankruptcy, because he was more interested in the licensing aspect of video games than the actual "making video games" part. (Fun fact! Jack Friedman was also CEO of LJN, which is why those games kind of stunk too.)

Nevertheless, when I see the T*HQ logo, I don't see that as a mark of quality. They earned a reputation as a publisher of crap games, and it's odd that someone would willingly cling to that brand given its dubious past. (Plus, I did mention that thing about holding grudges, right?)
Yes - but i stand by Darksiders 1-2
 
That's a genuine shame, Guardians of the Galaxy is very good. Hopefully can continue at Embracer (I hate that name btw). I'm guessing most of that loss was from Avengers. Guess it makes sense why they sold the bundle for what seems like relatively little.

They're still shoveling their money into the garbage, though, if they're investing in NFTs just as the market collapses.

GotG was good
BUT - it's basically a super high budget telltale games thing. There is some action and platforming. But it is light and eventually tiring. By end of game, was just glad it was over. Additionally the choices, like a TT game, are also very shallow and really don't drive too much differences (some exceptions, sure)

I liked it, and glad i played it, but also glad i did so on gamepass
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I enjoy the "go with your gut" dialogue choices though, just for different approaches to the same story. I like the exploration and platforming. The action has been a little less fun, mostly because of the way the fights don't seem to have a ton of variety (you tend to fight one kind of enemy, then another kind of enemy, without much mixing, at least to the point I'm at). The writing's amusing and snappy, it's not too serious, and you get to fly around and shoot stuff, and I like how the other Guardians basically serve as special attacks—good way to make them feel like part of the game without making it too complicated to learn a bunch of different characters.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
There's a rumour that this has happened to streamline Square Enix so that they can be bought by Sony. Really hoping that it's not the case.
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Is there any evidence hinting at this, or is this just fanboy fantasy drafting for a Sony acquisition?
 

RT-55J

space hero for hire
(He/Him + RT/artee)
Sony acquiring Square would be absolutely disasterous for any and all of their mid-to-low budget offerings.
 

John

(he/him)
Looks like Square Enix lost a combined $200,000,000 on their Marvel games. That's...a lot of money and I can hardly blame them for wanting to be done with the studios responsible.

That said, I'm actually OK to see Eidos et al out from Square's banner. They've constantly dumped on the non-Japanese developers in their company and maybe everyone will be better off parting ways.
I’m curious how much of that money was actual development costs, and how much was licensing fees to give to Disney for the privilege of using their properties. If it’s mostly the latter, then good riddance, dump them and let someone else pay the Mouse Tax.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Licensing fees aren't insignificant but I can't think they'd be so high as to cause anything like that level of loss.
 

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
$300 million seems low for a bunch of reliable AAA IPs and a well-respected back catalog. Encloser seems pretty hands-off.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
It's such a forgettable name that I get the feeling a lot of people are going to get it wrong over the next couple of years. "Yeah, I guess the next Tomb Raider's gonna be published by Entangler. Entwiner? Engulfer? Whatever."
 

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I wonder if the spate of remakes is a... I was going to say revenue strategy, but of course, it's obviously that. I guess remakes might be considered lower-risk and lower-cost for the returns they bring in? But they've been digging into some fan-favorite-but-obscure wells with many of the recent releases (Like, FF Pixel Remaster is one thing, but SaGa Frontier? Legend of Mana? Not exactly guaranteed jackpots), so it's hard to see them as pure cash grabs... I also don't know how well they (or anything else SE has released lately) has actually sold. So basically I have no idea what I'm talking about and am just spouting off at the hip.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
Some of these things I wonder if they're seeing if any in particular stand out sales-wise, to determine if a new game in the series should be made.
 

Bongo

excused from moderation duty
(he/him)
Staff member
It seems that in recent years they have begun thinking of their back catalog as an asset, is all.
 

Sarcasmorator

Same as I ever was
(He/him)
I mean they've often done that to an extent over the last 25 years or so. Final Fantasy collections, Chrono Trigger rereleases, and the like. But gathering up relatively obscure games and giving them HD facelifts is newer.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Embracer just bought Toaplan! And Limited Run Games! They're consuming everything! They're like the Swedish Chef wearing Galactus' helmet!
 

John

(he/him)
And some other unnamed company that they haven't announced yet.

FaarwBLUEAAL0xo
 
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