Square Enix cutting off the Western limb of its business was inevitable, but it’s also the right move for everyone involved.
If you’ve been following Square Enix closely over its life span, you’ve probably noticed that the publisher is impossible to pin down. Once renowned as the premier RPG studio thanks to franchises like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, the gaming giant has ballooned in size over the past decade. The company purchased several studios and began expanding its reach to Western audiences, moving beyond the RPG genre. In 2022, that rapid growth was starting to feel unsustainable and it appears that Square Enix agreed. On Monday, the publisher announced that it was selling three of its biggest internal studios: Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montreal. Embracer Group will pick up all three studios for $300 million (a paltry number next to Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard purchase), giving the company access to beloved franchises like Tomb Raider and Dues Ex. It’s yet another chapter in gaming’s current acquisition craze, but one that feels more necessary than other recent examples of corporate consolidation. Square Enix is selling its way out of an identity crisis that was only hurting the studios under its banner. It’s hypothetically good news for everyone involved, though Square Enix is already in danger of making the same mistakes. The rise of Square Enix as gaming’s most eclectic publisher is a story 20 years in the making. It began in 2003 when Square and Enix joined forces in a landmark merger. It was a match made in RPG heaven, creating a new Japanese megapower that held the keys to Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, the Chrono series, Dragon Quest, and more. But Square Enix wasn’t content with just being the king of one genre. Over the next decade, the publisher would rapidly expand, picking up companies like Space Invaders publisher Taiko and creating new studios to expand into new markets. The most significant turn happened in 2009 when Square Enix bought Eidos Interactive, the publisher behind Tomb Raider and Hitman, and its subsidiaries. Eidos played a crucial role in Square Enix’s growth. It was folded into Square Enix Europe, a subdivision that would focus on growing the publisher’s Western audience.
