Square Enix Sell Crystal Dynamics, Eidos, IPs, & More For $300 Million To Invest In NFT & Blockchain

[killamch89]

Here's another hilarious one I saw about a month back that nobody mentioned either. So Square Enix decided to sell their Western Studios and franchises like Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain to Embracer Group for 300 million to invest into NFTs and Blockchain. I wasn't even really pissed off when I saw this because they've been doing nothing with series like Deus Ex for years and were just sitting on the IPs. The level of stupidity that this decision entails just makes me want NFTs to crash and burn just to see Square Enix suffer for their stupidness. 

What do you guys think of this? How stupid do you think this decision is and what do you think will happen to Square Enix in the long run?

[HowHammerYou]

They seem to be becoming more and more anti-consumer. I've recently decided not to buy any more of their products after they made part 2 of the FFVII remake a PS5 exclusive. Sorry, but if you put the first third of a remake of a single game on an old console (PS4), which was very much current-gen when the game released, you should then be obligated to release the remaining two thirds of the game on that console. Basically they now want me to pay $570-ish for the next installment when I no longer have any confidence that it's even going to be any good (especially after that trailer). No thanks.

I think in the long run they're going to try to turn their existing IPs into freemium-style cash cows, fail at it, and then fall from grace. Final Fantasy has always been their main pillar, but over the past 7 years they've run the brand so far into the ground that I'm not sure it can save them this time.

[Empire]

Game companies like EA and Activision get so addicted to an specific form of exploitation (like lootboxes for example) that they end up genuinely ignoring the fact their business is the game Itself, not the scam that comes along with It. Ubisoft is almost bankrupt right now precisely because of that.

[Shagger]

This is just about as short sighted and idiotic a move I've seen from a major game company. For us as the gamers I can't say for sure whether that will be a good or a bad thing, but Square Enix will regret this. Somebody really didn't think this through. It is at least a promising situation for IP's like Legacy of Kain to have new games that might not have happened.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Shagger

[The Blackangel]

For the love of....

What the hell were they thinking? They sold off games they were making bank on.... to focus on NFT's? What the hell does Square Enix expect to do with this? Selling nonexistent items for real money? I've heard some dumbass ideas in my 40 years on this planet, but if this one doesn't top them all, it's pretty damn close.

[Withywarlock]

I want to be glad about this news because it might mean the talent behind these games gets recognised and put to good use with reasonable expectations. Square Enix had ludicrously high sales targets and was disappointed when Tomb Raider only sold 3.4million copies, for instance. That was the first sign of them not deserving Crystal Dynamics and all the rest of the companies they want to help extend their reach into the West, and it's astonishing it's taken them this long to get rid of some of their best IPs and the studios with them.

$300m is not a lot for that kind of value. For context, if Tomb Raider (2013) was only getting half of its box price of £40, 3.4million copies would still have made them £68,000,000 in 2013 (£78m today). In United States Dollars (USD) that's $83,000,000 today. For one game. Out of the multiple properties that "did not meet sales expectations" such as Hitman and Sleeping Dogs. When DLC was still the additional content before the permanent residence of microtransactions, loot boxes, and battle passes.

What internal haemorraging is going on at Squenix to ask for such a low price, or have they still not adjusted their sales expectations, ability to correctly read and gather data (i.e counting digital sales)? I suppose it's the kind that makes them think chasing NFTs is a good idea. At least Ubisoft has demonstrated loudly the shortcomings of the idea, and they're normally persistent about their initiatives.

[Lamarr the strelok]

First I thought I was too old to understand NFT/blockchain.Then I thought maybe I'm too dumb to understand NFT"s/crypto.Now I realize I was wrong on both counts and NFT"s /crypto is just a scam.I have really enjoyed the last 3 Tomb Raider games and a couple of the Deus ex games were fun too.I'm glad they got away from Squeenix.If they go hard into crypto they will eventually come down hard.They have some dumbasses in high places at Squeenix.

[killamch89]

On 6/18/2022 at 11:49 AM, The Blackangel said:

For the love of....

What the hell were they thinking? They sold off games they were making bank on.... to focus on NFT's? What the hell does Square Enix expect to do with this? Selling nonexistent items for real money? I've heard some dumbass ideas in my 40 years on this planet, but if this one doesn't top them all, it's pretty damn close.

To be fair, they weren't really doing much with Deus Ex and Legacy Of Kain in recent years so I'm gald they sold those but these idiots actually sold Tomb Raider which made them close to 500m+ in sales revenue which is stupid at best.

On 6/18/2022 at 6:41 AM, Shagger said:

This is just about as short sighted and idiotic a move I've seen from a major game company. For us as the gamers I can't say for sure whether that will be a good or a bad thing, but Square Enix will regret this. Somebody really didn't think this through. It is at least a promising situation for IP's like Legacy of Kain to have new games that might not have happened.

I agree that it's the best thing for series like Legacy Of Kain and Deus Ex which was being neglected by Square Enix and I hope they crash and burn because of this.

On 6/19/2022 at 3:03 AM, Withywarlock said:

I want to be glad about this news because it might mean the talent behind these games gets recognised and put to good use with reasonable expectations. Square Enix had ludicrously high sales targets and was disappointed when Tomb Raider only sold 3.4million copies, for instance. That was the first sign of them not deserving Crystal Dynamics and all the rest of the companies they want to help extend their reach into the West, and it's astonishing it's taken them this long to get rid of some of their best IPs and the studios with them.

$300m is not a lot for that kind of value. For context, if Tomb Raider (2013) was only getting half of its box price of £40, 3.4million copies would still have made them £68,000,000 in 2013 (£78m today). In United States Dollars (USD) that's $83,000,000 today. For one game. Out of the multiple properties that "did not meet sales expectations" such as Hitman and Sleeping Dogs. When DLC was still the additional content before the permanent residence of microtransactions, loot boxes, and battle passes.

What internal haemorraging is going on at Squenix to ask for such a low price, or have they still not adjusted their sales expectations, ability to correctly read and gather data (i.e counting digital sales)? I suppose it's the kind that makes them think chasing NFTs is a good idea. At least Ubisoft has demonstrated loudly the shortcomings of the idea, and they're normally persistent about their initiatives.

Square Enix has been making loads of bad decisions over the past decade and this is the latest one - it shouldn't surprise us when they do stupid stuff like this.

[harleyqbx]

Agreed that 300 million seems like a fire sale price for those franchises. If Square Enix wasn't properly utilizing the IP they had, it's better off elsewhere. Every time someone mentions video games and NFTs/Blockchain in the same sentence, my eyes roll just a little bit harder.

[killamch89]

On 6/23/2022 at 8:47 PM, harleyqbx said:

Agreed that 300 million seems like a fire sale price for those franchises. If Square Enix wasn't properly utilizing the IP they had, it's better off elsewhere. Every time someone mentions video games and NFTs/Blockchain in the same sentence, my eyes roll just a little bit harder.

Same here - I like Cryptocurrency but mixing it with gaming turns me off. I'd much rather the two stay as separate entities.

[Justin11]

Square Enix got their reasons for investing that sum into NFTs and it's Blockchain. I know NFTs are risky, but wouldn't evaporate their investment over night. Before they decided to invest, they must have been educated about NFTs. Let's watch and see what the future holds for them, if the investment gonna be fruitful or fruitless. 

[harleyqbx]

On 6/24/2022 at 10:21 PM, killamch89 said:

Same here - I like Cryptocurrency but mixing it with gaming turns me off. I'd much rather the two stay as separate entities.

Yeah. That's exactly my feeling. I don't like mixing the two. 

[killamch89]

21 hours ago, harleyqbx said:

Yeah. That's exactly my feeling. I don't like mixing the two. 

Especially for the fact that I know gaming companies will exploit it for profit instead of using it to the benefit of their consumers.

[Kane99]

I had no idea this even happened. Crazy move imo. Crystal dynamics was a fairly good studio. To sell them and others off is weird to me. 

What does this mean for tomb raider? I don't think NFTs are sticking around for much longer. What happens to them if the market falls drastically?

[harleyqbx]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:24 PM, Kane99 said:

I had no idea this even happened. Crazy move imo. Crystal dynamics was a fairly good studio. To sell them and others off is weird to me. 

What does this mean for tomb raider? I don't think NFTs are sticking around for much longer. What happens to them if the market falls drastically?

I'd really like to know what's going to happen to Tomb Raider too. I really liked the most recent reboot games.