Swedish holding firm The Embracer Group has shut down one of many three studios it bought earlier this yr from Japanese writer Sq. Enix, based on a brand new report. Hitman: Go developer Onoma, previously often known as Sq. Enix Montreal, is ready to shut, with a few of its 150 workers shifting to work at Eidos Montreal.
In Could, Embracer introduced the acquisition of the three studios, which included Tomb Raider and Marvel’s Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics, Deus Ex and Thief developer Eidos Montreal, and developer Sq. Enix Montreal, which had been answerable for the Lara Croft GO and Hitman GO video games for cell gadgets. Sq. Enix Montreal was rebranded as Onoma in October.
In June, Embracer acquired a $1 billion USD funding from a subdivision of the Saudi Arabian Public Funding Fund referred to as the Savvy Gaming Group, giving the group an 8.1% stake in Embracer’s operations.
Bloomberg experiences that Embracer informed workers November 1 that a few of them would be capable to switch to “sister studio” Eidos Montreal. Nonetheless, it’s unclear what number of might be eligible for the transfer, and the way most of the roughly 150 workers and 50 QA testers might be laid off.
In line with the Bloomberg sources, the closure of Onoma is a part of a “bigger cost-cutting initiative” throughout the corporate, with Eidos Montreal set to “reduce” on one unannounced mission and cancel one other.
On the time it acquired the three studios, Embracer mentioned it noticed “nice potential” within the mental property these studios held.