This work was considered novel in an industry where major companies created free-to-play games rather than small games with small teams. Though Hitman Go and the subsequent Lara Croft Go (2015, based on the Tomb Raider series) received awards, critical acclaim, and modest sales, Hitman: Sniper became the studio's revenue generator.
#Square video games series#
The former began the Go series of highly manicured, turn-based, board game-style puzzle video games, while the latter more closely resembled a traditional mobile game in which players competitively shoot targets through the scope of a sniper rifle. The company spent two weeks designing proposals for mobile Hitman series games, which led to Hitman Go (2014) and Hitman: Sniper (2015). Many employees left to work on AAA titles elsewhere and those who stayed became vested in the ethos of a smaller studio, leaving their siloed specialty areas to work as generalists across specialties, as necessitated by smaller teams. The studio quietly cancelled its work on the Hitman console game, while IO Interactive assumed a similar project. Spurred by company-wide changes beginning late the next year and Square Enix's decision to designate a studio to focus on mobile games, Square Enix Montréal pivoted to mobile game development with an emphasis on the Hitman franchise and tablet computers in June 2013. The studio also received support from the Quebecois government. Singleton planned a slow design process, with no rush to production. Square Enix Montréal began with four staff members-Singleton and three developers from IO Interactive-but planned to grow beyond the single Hitman team to have multiple concurrent projects with up to 150 employees. Its first project was a new Hitman series game for home consoles, to be co-developed with another Square Enix subsidiary, IO Interactive of Denmark, which created the series and was at work on Hitman: Absolution (2012).
The new studio was founded to create high-production quality (AAA) titles within Square Enix intellectual properties. Video game developer Square Enix announced the opening of Square Enix Montréal on November 21, 2011, aiming to debut operations in 2012 with 150 employees headed by Lee Singleton, a former general manager at Square Enix London Studios. The studio was briefly rebranded Onoma in October 2022 before it closed the next month. It focused on free-to-play games after 2016 and later added the London-based studio Square Enix London Mobile founded in 2021.Įmbracer Group acquired Square Enix Montréal alongside several other Square Enix Europe assets in August 2022, which formed CDE Entertainment. The commercial success of the latter and the critical success of the former led to two additional titles in the Go series: Lara Croft Go (2015), based on the Tomb Raider series, and Deus Ex Go (2016), based on the Deus Ex series. The company developed prototypes for two mobile Hitman games, which became the board game-inspired puzzle game Hitman Go (2014) and the shooter Hitman: Sniper (2015). Initially planning to create a new Hitman series game for consoles and employ several hundred people, its parent company mandated it to produce mobile games in 2013. Square Enix Montréal was founded in November 2011 as a traditional studio under Square Enix Europe. It created the Go series of turn-based puzzle games for mobile devices based on former Eidos Interactive intellectual properties.
Square Enix Montréal was a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal.
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