Embracer Group, a gaming giant with 10,000 employees around the world, is closing one of its Canadian development studios. Bloomberg reports that Embracer is closing Onoma, the Montreal-based studio previously known as Square Enix Montreal that was known best for its “Go” games like Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go, and Deus Ex Go. The same report also revealed that a new Deus Ex game is in development at Eidos Montreal.
Embracer only just acquired the studio in May, and it rebranded to Onoma just a few weeks ago at the start of October. According to the report, some staff are moving to sister studio Eidos Montreal.
Embracer picked up Onoma earlier this year as part of its $300 million deal to buy Eidos Montreal, Crystal Dynamics, and the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex franchises.
Bloomberg’s sources said Embracer is looking to cut costs, and is also scaling back the scope of an unannounced title and canceling another one outright. The report also reveals that Eidos Montreal will work alongside Microsoft’s Playground Games on the new Fable that has been in the works for some time but has still not been shown.
Reporter Jason Schreier said the canceled game at Eidos Montreal was inspired by Stranger Things and was a “kids-on-bikes” type of game. The studio is now making a new IP at the previously mentioned scaled-back scope, a new Deus Ex title that is said to be “very, very early” in development, and the Fable project as a co-development with Playground. No further details were divulged.
Crystal Dynamics, meanwhile, is working with Microsoft’s The Initiative studio on the new Perfect Dark game, so co-development is nothing new for Microsoft.
Eidos Montreal, which remains intact, canceled the Stranger Things-inspired “kids on bikes” game that was rumored recently. They’re now working on:
1) A new IP (recently rescoped)
2) A new Deus Ex (very very early)
3) co-dev partnerships with Xbox including Fable— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 1, 2022
Embracer Group also recently acquired the Lord of the Rings film and video game rights, and the company believes there could be a bright future for Lord of the Rings video games.
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