CDE Entertainment, the business group under Embracer formed from the previous acquisition of Square Enix North America studios, announced the closure of Onoma as well as its internal QA team.
Onoma was the rebrand of the studio formerly known as Square Enix Montreal, makers of premium (not free-to-play) mobile games.
This will affect around 200 people, Gamesindustry.biz reports. CDE is offering those affected by the closures positions in other PC and console projects within CDE.
“We see the growth opportunities centered around our premier franchises and AAA games,” said CDE director Phil Rogers.
“Closing publishing QA and our Onoma studio is a difficult decision and one that we’ve taken with great care and consideration.”
The closure sees CDE “focusing its future production capacities on its flagship studios, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos-Montreal.”
According to another report by Bloomberg, Eidos Montreal is set to make a new Deus Ex game, as well as co-developing the upcoming Fable game.
This is similar to Crystal Dynamics, the CD of CDE we presume, that is currently working on the next Tomb Raider as well as supporting another Xbox Game Studio title, Perfect Dark.
Looks like the future of CDE Entertainment, the 12th operating group under Embracer, is solely on AAA console and PC games with the closure of Onoma.