According to D'Astous, Square Enix's Tokyo HQ didn't seem to be hugely invested in the publisher's Western studios — the same studios that it mostly sold off to Embracer Group earlier this year.
"I was losing hope that Square Enix Japan would bring great things to Eidos. I was losing confidence in my headquarters in London," D'Astous recalls. "In their annual fiscal reports, Japan always added one or two phrases saying, 'We were disappointed with certain games. They didn't reach expectations.' And they did that strictly for certain games that were done outside of Japan."
This was quite some time ago, by the way. As Games Industry points out, D'Astous left Eidos Montreal in 2013, and he believes that it's been a slow and steady decline for the Western teams ever since.
"If I read between the lines, Square Enix Japan was not as committed as we hoped initially," D'Astous admits. He continues: "And there are rumours, obviously, that with all these activities of mergers and acquisitions, that Sony would really like to have Square Enix within their wheelhouse. I heard rumours that Sony said they're really interested in Square Enix Tokyo, but not the rest." Interesting.
This, of course, ties back into the Embracer Group deal, which had some internet analysts suggesting Square Enix was deliberately streamlining its operations so that it would be a more attractive purchase.
However, it's worth pointing out that D'Astous doesn't clarify where he heard these rumours. It's entirely possible they're the same rumours that we've been writing news stories about, in which case he may only knows as much as the rest of us. Either way, there's no doubt that this interview will spark a new wave of acquisition chatter, which is always fun!
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Source: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/07/ex-square-enix-dev-heard-rumours-of-sony-buyout
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