Square Enix has announced that it’s made a deal with Embracer Group for the sale of several of its studios, including Crystal Dynamics. While the sale affects many titles, one of them is the Tomb Raider franchise. The game publisher indicated it made the move so that it can increase cash flow and put funds toward potential blockchain projects.
You may remember Crystal Dynamics as the game studio that breathed new life into the Lara Croft series. It started with the simply-named Tomb Raider, but soon expanded to Rise of the TombRaider and ended with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As fans of Lara, we had so much joy playing all of these on our PlayStations and PCs. The gameplay was incredible and only became more exciting with each sequel.
After the Tomb Raider movie appeared, inspired by the Crystal Dynamics games, we wondered what would be next for Lara. What we didn’t expect was Square Enix signing a $300 million deal for such a popular character. It means they can no longer create any more Lara games or other merchandise related to them.
Crystal Dynamics is only one of the studios that Square Enix is selling. The other two are Square Enix Montréal and Eidos-Montréal. While Tomb Raider is big on the list, other brands leaving the company include Thief, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Avengers.
The topic of blockchain in gaming is a sensitive one at the moment. Gamers haven’t completely accepted the idea as yet. While the Metaverse looks incredible and exciting, it will take some time before players are willing to switch to paying for microtransactions with cryptocurrency. Many of them don’t even know how to obtain Bitcoin or Ethereum as yet. The notion of NFTs in games is still new.
We noticed this weekend that Anthony Hopkins made a movie that you can now buy as an NFT. It means you’ll pay with crypto and effectively own the film on the blockchain. No one will be able to make a pirate copy, which is promising for future film production.
Fortnite creator Epic Games is also raising funds for a stake in the Metaverse. We don’t know what this means for Tomb Raider yet, but we’re excited to find out.
