Swedish holding company The Embracer Group has closed one of three studios it acquired earlier this year from Japanese publisher Square Enix, according to a new report. Hitman: Go developer Onoma, formerly known as Square Enix Montreal, will shut down and some of its 150 employees will go to work at Eidos Montreal.
In May, Embracer announced the acquisition of three studios, which included Tomb Raider and Marvel's Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics, Deus Ex and Thief developer Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal, which was responsible for the mobile games Lara Croft GO and Hitman GO. In October, Square Enix Montreal was renamed Onoma.
In June, Embracer received a US$1 billion investment from a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund unit called the Savvy Gaming Group, giving the group an 8,1% stake in Embracer's operations.
Bloomberg reports , that on November 1, Embracer told employees that some of them would be able to move to "sister studio" Eidos Montreal. However, it is unclear how many of them will be eligible for transfer, and how many of the roughly 150 employees and 50 QA testers will be laid off.
Onoma's closure is part of a "larger cost-cutting initiative" at the company, with Eidos Montreal set to "cut" one unannounced project and cancel another, Bloomberg sources said.
At the time of the acquisition of the three studios, Embracer said it saw "great potential" in the intellectual property owned by the studios.
