Square Enix Montreal Gets Shut Down By Embracer

The Square Enix Montreal Studio, which is mainly known for developing puzzle games for mobile devices, and has a studio centered around the mobile market has officially shut down. This comes only weeks after its rebrand to the name ‘Onoma.’

Major Takeaway:

• Square Enix Montreal also known as Onoma has been officially shut down.
• The studio worked behind many mobile games.
• The shutdown comes a month after its leave from Square Enix

One of the major trends in gaming this year has been the acquisition and sales of different gaming studios. this trend lept forward just after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in January and many other major and minor studios.

Since then, the acquisition war with publishers like Square Enix and the war on creators have begun, spiraling major publishers into spending big money for exclusivity. This is mostly a good decision as sales have been continuous for studios like these in the gaming industry. 

All of these companies have their own way of fighting for the market, but one company has focused more on selling its assets this year rather than expanding them. Square Enix, as of some time ago, sold two of its major studios, Crystal Dynamic and Eidos-Montréal, to Embracer Group just a few months ago.

This move may have not been the worst one the publisher has made, because now, the same studio ‘Onoma’ or Square Enix Montreal, has been shut down.

NEWS: Embracer has shut down Onoma, formerly Square Enix Montreal, which announced its new name just 3 weeks ago. Also:
– Some Onoma staff will move to Eidos Montreal
– Eidos canceled an unannounced game
– Eidos working with Xbox on games like Fable
Scoop: https://t.co/4WaL3rV4a1

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 1, 2022

@jasonschreier had this to say about the matter for Square Enix Montreal, “Onoma was part of the acquisition that saw Embracer take control of Eidos and the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Legacy of Kain franchises. The company informed staff at a 2 pm ET meeting today that Onoma is shutting down as the company pivots to focus only on PC and console”

The company will be somewhat split with some of its teams going to Eidos Montreal. Jason continues, “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.”

Seeing how early the studio is getting put to the ground, we can speculate that the mobile market may have not been as sound as we thought. With the entirety of Square Enix on thin legs, only time will tell where this publisher goes from here.