Breaking overnight, Square Enix have entered into an agreement to sell Eidos Montréal, Square Enix Montréal and Crystal Dynamics to Embracer Group in a $300 million dollar deal that includes IP like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain. Embracer Group is a conglomerate of many game studios, most notably Gearbox Software, THQ Nordic, and others. Embracer expects the transaction to be approved by the pertinent regulatory bodies and completed by July to September of this year. In a statement today, the stated reason for the sale will "assist in adapting to changes underway win the global business environment by establishing a more efficient allocation of resources." It's also stated that the deal will help the company "move forward with investments in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud" and to realign their other overseas publishers under the Japanese branch, such as Square Enix External Studios, Square Enix Collective, and will continue to publish franchises related to Just Cause, Outriders, and Life is Strange. Eidos Montréal has 500 employees across Canada and China, Square Enix Montréal includes 150 employees in Canda and the UK, and Crystal Dynamics has 300 employees across the United States including the new Crystal Northwest

Today, Square Enix launched a new website centered around the Final Fantasy series' 35th anniversary that aims to "bring you many exciting new ways to enjoy the worlds of Final Fantasy" and to "please look forward to what Final Fantasy has in store. The site features the logos upcoming Chocobo GP racing game and Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, both set to release this month, with "more" yet to be added. In what will be a series of messages from prominent Final Fantasy series developers, long-time Square Enix alum Yoshinori Kitase, who most recently served as producer of Final Fantasy VII Remake, noted that this year also marks Final Fantasy V's 30th anniversary, as well as Final Fantasy VII's 25th, and Final Fantasy XI's 20th. He notes that in a long-running series, the anniversaries lining up in one year seems pretty unusual. He thanks fans for their support, and that they will continue to work hard making each Final Fantasy game one "that you will remember for a long time to come." Also, Square Enix Music launched a YouTube channel that will service as a hub for their many soundtracks, concerts, interviews, Lo-Fi beats you can grind your relic to, and

Square Enix president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda released a New Years letter in which he states that blockchain and NFTs will be a "major strategic theme for us in 2022." NFTs and blockchain technology have been widely criticized for a variety of reasons, chief among them are the vast amounts of energy they consume, a spiral downward into further commodification of art, and the implicit sanctioning of art theft. Even the implementation of this technology in games is suspect, as a market for buying and selling decentralized assets with no oversight has extremely risky outcomes, as well as the concept of digital ownership of a token running off of infrastructure you don't own. What happens if the entity responsible for that infrastructure shuts down? Game developers themselves, outside a company's management class, are also soggy on the whole idea. Matsuda's letter is very much pointed at Square Enix's shareholders rather than the general public, which may lead some to speculate that this is largely to show that the company isn't eschewing a potential new line of considerable profit. However, he excitedly continues to share how the company is moving forward into implementing this technology in games: "It is blockchain-based tokens that will enable

Square Enix has revealed its latest studio, Square Enix London Mobile today, in a venture to publish high-quality free-to-play mobile games. The studio has two titles currently in development based on Tomb Raider and Avatar: The Last Airbender. They're currently in the middle of recruitment efforts in order to bring these titles and future games to players worldwide. “At Square Enix London Mobile, our goal is to move the world through play and in order to do this, we need to grow our team with even more unique voices, varieties of perspectives and creative energy,” said Ed Perkins, Studio Head at Square Enix London Mobile “We have great games in development, access to Square Enix-owned IP and relationships with the world’s top entertainment companies, but our people will be the competitive advantage that fuels our success now and in the future.” Square Enix London Mobile is also working on the previously revealed Tomb Raider: Reloaded for mobile platforms. Developed with Crystal Dynamics, the game will feature classic series elements in an action-arcade style adventure. It's expected to launch in 2022. More information on Square Enix London Mobile can be found on the official company website here.

Square Enix has revealed the time and date for their announcement showcase headlining E3 this year. This Summer edition of Square Enix Presents will air on June 13 at 12:15 Pacific time as a Keynote during the all-digital E3 2021 event, as well as on Square Enix’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. The stream is slated to last around 40 minutes and will include news and updates on the following: World premiere of a new game from Eidos-MontrealAn update on Babylon's FallDetails on Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther - War for Wakanda and upcoming in-game events.Deep dive on Life is Strange: True Colors and first look at Life is Strange: Remastered Collection.

In a statement released today, Square Enix will be combining the Visual Works and Image Arts divisions into a single entity now known as "Square Enix Image Studio Division." Their new website can be found here. Visual Works is best known for providing many of the CG cutscenes and trailers that accompany Square Enix titles. Image Arts brings along staff who worked on Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV film but largely engage in research and development into "high-end visual expression with a focus on real-time graphics." Takeshi Nozue, who worked on many cinematics in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series, has been tapped to head this new division within Square Enix. One of its core goals is to expedite development of new technology: "By fusing the technologies and attributes of the two divisions into the SQUARE ENIX Image Studio Division, the Company aims to become faster at its research and development efforts into next-generation visual expression and at incorporating the results of those efforts into actual content. It thereby hopes to provide its customers with an even higher quality of experience." Visual Works was established in 1997, led by Kazuyuki Ikumori, which developed the CG cutscenes integrated into Final Fantasy VII.

For those looking to get in on some gaming deals this week, Square Enix has discounted several games in their mobile catalogue through March 29. Here's the rundown on the discounted titles: Final Fantasy III - $6.99Final Fantasy III for iPad - $7.99Final Fantasy IV - $6.99Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions - $6.99 on App Store and $5.99 on Google PlayFinal Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions on iPad - $7.99Chrono Trigger (Upgrade Version) - $4.99Adventures of Mana - $6.99Secrets of Mana - $3.99Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth - $8.99 All titles are available on their respective stores - App Store, Google Play and Amazon Appstore. Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyrie Profile and Secrets of Mana are currently unavailable on Amazon Appstore.

Square Enix Presents will air on March 18th (10:00am Pacific) and include announcements and updates on various titles. Today, the company shared that a new installment of the "Life is Strange" series will be revealed, featuring a new protagonist with a new type of power. Updates regarding Marvel's Avengers and Outriders will also be shared. Square Enix also plans to hold multiple broadcasts like this throughout the year to share new information -- you'll be able to watch on their YouTube or Twitch channels. The Spring 2021 iteration will be around 40 minutes long and feature trailers and gameplay footage. Here's a full list of confirmed appearances: Life is Strange announcementOutriders Balan WonderworldTomb Raider 25th AnniversaryMarvel’s AvengersJust Cause MobileNew mobile game announcements from Square Enix MontréalVarious Taito games

This year's been real one. I spent a lot of time playing games this year to take my mind off real events, not that they weren't important to grapple with, but to give brain a breather. Moments to pause, wipe the slate clean, and regroup. A lavish splash of comfort in what's otherwise been a very hostile landscape to navigate through -- and for that I feel lucky and privileged to enjoy that comfort when I can. Of course, it was a big year for Square Enix. Big hitters like Final Fantasy VII Remake and Marvel's Avengers, as well as plenty of other mid-range titles were peppered throughout the year. It felt important to recap and collect some of my thoughts about the games Square Enix released or announced amidst the everything of everything... Before we move on to what 2021 may bring. So without further ado, here's my look back at 2020... The Final Fantasy VII Remake Becomes Real The run-up to Final Fantasy VII Remake's launch felt like a march through a minefield, due in part to datamined assets from the game's demo that revealed key scenes, including the game's entire script, making the internet a dangerous place for anyone wanting to

Update: In an Impress Watch interview released November 25th, Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida confirmed "Forspoken" was not the name of the new expansion. Square Enix recently filed a new trademark for a 'Forspoken' title, sending off a wave of speculation that it may pertain to Final Fantasy XIV's next expansion. What makes this particularly notable is that each of the game's previous expansions have had their titles trademarked in advance of their announcement. The company also trademarked 'A Hero's Bonds,' which doesn't follow the naming conventions... if you were to leave out 'A Realm Reborn' perhaps. What's more: it may pertain to another game -- Final Fantasy XVI or the tentatively titled "Project Athia" springs to mind, though that may be a long way off yet. Either way, as the Shadowbringers scenario came to a close in Patch 5.3, many of the game's faithful are looking ahead to the fourth expansion, that, should the cadence of previous launches persist, will release next summer. Typically this announcement would come at the game's Fan Festival -- but due to the COVID-19 pandemic shuttering all three events -- it's not easy to pin down when the reveal will come. However, in