Crystal Dynamics, Eidos will break even until new games released, Embracer says
Square Enix financial data shows slim operating income.
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive will sit around "breakeven" point for the next two years, soon-to-be-new owner Embracer has said.
Financial details for the two companies have been made public as part of Square Enix's sale. The Final Fantasy publisher is offloading both for just $300m - a figure which seems miniscule compared to other recent games industry mergers and acquisitions.
"We firmly believe that the studios will excel under Embracer's operating model and ownership," Embracer wrote in a note to press, adding that the studios would continue to "breakeven" for the "the upcoming two financial years driven mainly by sales of the back-catalogue titles".
This will remain the case until their "product pipeline matures in the years thereafter" Embracer continued - in other words, when Crystal Dynamics and Eidos start to release new games.
Square Enix financial data shows Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics earned CAN $240m in revenue over the past three years, but recorded just CAN $10.1m in operating income.
Eidos Interactive, which includes both Guardians of the Galaxy studio Eidos Montreal and mobile outfit Square Enix Montreal, earned CAN $248m revenue in the last three years, but just CAN $10.3m in operating income.
Crystal Dynamics still operates Marvel's Avengers as a live-service game (its next playable character will be a Jane Foster version of Thor). But games industry analyst David Gibson of MST Financial estimated Square Enix had lost around US $200m on the development of Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Embracer specifically highlighted Tomb Raider and Deus Ex as the headline franchises it would gain control of, and shared various stats.
To date, Tomb Raider games have sold 88m copies worldwide, with 38m of those sales coming from the series' recent reboot trilogy. It has also received 53m paid mobile downloads.
The Deux Ex franchise, meanwhile, has sold 12m copies across its main series games, and seen 2m paid downloads of its mobile spin-offs.