Embracer shuts down recently bought studio

Studio Onoma shuttered its doors earlier this week as part of a cost-saving measure for Embracer. 200 employees will be affected.

Studio Onoma, formerly known as Square Enix Montreal, was shuttered earlier this week by Embracer. The company was sold to Embracer from Square Enix as a part of a $300 million dollar package.

Studio Onoma’s previous works include Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go, and was working on an upcoming Avatar game, but has since been shuttered according to a report by Bloomberg. There is speculation that the studio closure is due to Embracer attempting to cut costs — other projects at the other recently acquired studios have also been cancelled, including a Stranger Things project.

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

The report also states that Eidos Montreal, another studio picked up by Embracer, entered into “co-dev partnerships” with Microsoft to focus on the upcoming Fable reboot. Eidos Montreal is supposedly in the “very very early” stages of development with a new Deus Ex game. Several of the Onoma team are reportedly being moved to Eidos to work on these other projects.

This is only the latest in a string of shake-ups in the gaming industry, as Embracer reportedly changed developers on their upcoming remake of fan-favourite Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic. Embracer is currently one of the largest holding companies in gaming, with investments in many popular studios, such as Gearbox, 3D Realms, and Deep Silver.

A new Deus Ex game is supposedly in the works, but it will be some time before we hear about it. Picture: Eidos

Embracer also acquired the IP for Lord of the Rings, including anything involving Middle-earth, such as The Hobbit and Gollum. This all followed a massive surge in investments from Saudi Arabia, with the country acquiring an 8% ownership stake in the company.

In other gaming news, Dota 2 International champions Tundra Esports took to Twitter to ask for help in locating their “lost” trophy, and PlayStation revealed via its latest financial report that PlayStation Plus subscriptions are on the decline. Blizzard disabled yet another Overwatch 2 hero due to game-breaking glitches, and thousands of Call of Duty players have been banned unfairly due to a bug in the game’s code.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.