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Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

arstechnica.com

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Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#121

Post by jrsj »

make3 wrote: post #117
haunter wrote: post #18

>The Transaction will assist the Company in adapting to the changes underway in the global business environment by establishing a more efficient allocation of resources, which will enhance corporate value by accelerating growth in the Company’s core businesses in the digital entertainment domain. In addition, the Transaction enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including b…

For people who don't play MMOs because they're way too addictive, the focus of square on FFXIV has been really disappointing

When you zoom out a little it makes a lot of sense. FF15 and FF13 were both failures, company had serious financial issues before FF14 took off. Hopefully you will get to enjoy FF16, and making that game wouldn’t have been possible without the success of 14.

FFXIV also has the least addictive qualities of any MMO I have played in my experience. There’s very little FOMO & you’re encouraged to play at whatever pace you enjoy. Many players just play through the story and treat it as a mostly single player game.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#122

Post by Dudeman112 »

aconbere wrote: post #87
mrtranscendence wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never played Uncharted, but I had a much different God of War experience from what you described. There's really quite a lot of gameplay there, and some of the optional combat encounters were ridiculously tough -- certainly not QTE-ridden cutscenes. Some of the puzzles were repetitive and there was certainly quite a lot of dialog, but I never felt like I was in a button-pressing simulator.

Maybe OP is considering the earlier games in the series? I agree with you that certainly compared to Uncharted and Tomb Raider the latest God of War has far more engaging world design and combat.

The latest God of War just needed more actual bosses.

Feels like the queen bitch valkyrie was the only encounter where they actually decided to push the combat. Imagine if Sekiro or Souls games only had a couple of bosses that felt like real bosses.

Overall a phenomenal game, though.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#123

Post by tyrfing »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #13
awill wrote: post #5

I don't know anything about the debt/risk etc.. around this, but $300M seems very, very low for 3 studios with lots of IP.

You’d think Tomb Raider alone would be worth something like that amount, though maybe it did make up most of the value.

It definitely does.

> [T]wo original IPs, Tomb Raider and Deus Ex, have sold AAA units of ~88M and ~12M, respectively. Embracer sees an opportunity to invest in these franchises, as well as the additional acquired IPs such as Legacy of Kain, Thief, and other original franchises.

It's pretty much Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and footnotes. Looks like Embracer picked this up for cheap because the business has been mismanaged, the base case involves running at breakeven for at least 2 years before they have new releases:

> Embracer’s base case financial plan implies that the combined acquired companies will be breakeven or have a smaller Operational EBIT contribution to the upcoming two financial years driven mainly by sales of the back-catalogue titles. This could change positively if the company decides to enter a deeper strategic relationship with one or more platforms around the upcoming pipeline. When the product pipeline matures in the years thereafter, Embracer expects the acquired companies to generate on average at least SEK 500 million in operational EBIT per year with notable upside potential.

So 6X multiplier a few years out if they turn it around. Notably, they're financing this at 1% interest, and seem to have extremely low debt ratios. Still, I'm surprised it was this cheap, especially with the gaming IP land grab going on these days. Makes me wonder if there's weird additional commitments like not firing anyone, or if their recent financial performance is much worse than implied.

https://embracer.com/release/embracer-group-enters-into-an-a...

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#124

Post by ddingus »

Man, I just want more of tye big world FF 7 through 12 type games.

Anyone doing titles like that anymore?

My wife and I really enjoy a big one and will play one all the way through. Miss that type of experience.

The MMO is completely uninteresting and addictive as hell from what I see can happen to players.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#125

Post by skinnymuch »

devmor wrote: post #26
cinntaile wrote: post #14

Are they preparing for getting acquired by Sony or what?

At current TSE prices it'd cost Sony at least 5% of their entire market cap to acquire SE so I think we'd hear a bit more about it if something like that were in the works. A trillion yen is nothing to sneeze at.

Sony did invest close to or exactly $1B into Fornite last month. It wasn’t stated outright but they were one of two main investors with the Lego parent company investing $1 of $2B raised.

Though yeah an SE acquisition would be a far bigger deal even without being over 5x as much.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#126

Post by tyrfing »

nomel wrote: post #86
halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Because enough VCs/Hedge Funds have bought into the lie that is crypto or “AI”. Is this some kind of economic extortion?

Famously: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/21/long-island-iced-tea-micro-c...

More recently, insider trading and pump-and-dump charges.

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2018/lr24201.htm

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-121

Penny stock frauds like that are more about ripping off retail.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#127

Post by Aeolun »

levesque wrote: post #38
baby wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you should play uncharted and the last of us. This is peak AAA

Am I the only one that can't stand these games? They are so restrictive in their gameplay, so linear! It feels like watching an interactive movie more than playing a game.

Hmm, I like them. The only times in TR that I do not like are the ones in which you have been completely kicking ass, and then inevitably get knocked out during a cutscene.

And there’s quite a lot of those.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#128

Post by henriquecm8 »

Reubachi wrote: post #78
ianbutler wrote: post #61

Pretty please can we have the final installment of the Adam Jensen Deus Ex trilogy now. Left us hanging in the middle of what might be one of my favorite neo noir, cyberpunk series because open world story driven games were losing out back then. There's clearly an appetite now given recent releases and their success.

I think Deus Ex is done. A finish to the Jensen story would rely upon Eidos Montreal being able to produce more than one game every 5 years. Since Mankind Divided, they've released only a Guardians of the Galaxy game. MD was a great game, which was according to Eidos Montreal kneecapped by "Square rushing it out". Human Revolution was an even greater game, but still slightly kneecapped by "Square rushing it out".

They release two games, Guardians of the Galaxy and Shadow of Tomb Raider. And helped with Avengers.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#129

Post by ilikecakeandpie »

ddingus wrote: post #124

Man, I just want more of tye big world FF 7 through 12 type games. Anyone doing titles like that anymore? My wife and I really enjoy a big one and will play one all the way through. Miss that type of experience. The MMO is completely uninteresting and addictive as hell from what I see can happen to players.

Checkout titles like Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default series maybe?

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#130

Post by Sakos »

542458 wrote: post #111
Sakos wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Embracer buy Deus Ex if they had no intention of doing anything with it? They're not EA.

Embracer bought lots of things, not just Deus Ex. Companies acquire IPs in bulk buys all the time that they never do anything with (Gex being a good example). That said the linked article says that Eidos Montreal is working on a Deus Ex game, so you might be in luck.

Embracer is particularly known for picking up old IP's for reviving them though, especially when there is demand for it.
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