Online communities are busy debating the pros and cons of Square Enix's sudden sell-off. The company, which is one of the largest in gaming, is best known for making the Final Fantasy and working closely with Disney on Kingdom Hearts, among others. However, Square Enix has worked on other IPs through its various subsidiaries over the years as well, including Deus Ex and Tomb Raider.
TLDR; Square Enix should be swimming in cash, all things considered. But, it appears that this isn't necessarily the case.
While Square Enix isn't bankrupt by any means, it appears that the company doesn't see the value of its western subsidiaries anymore. In particular, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal. According to an industry analyst, part of the reason for this is that the publisher lost $200 million working on Marvel's Avengers and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
MST Financial explains in its analysis that Square Enix spent hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and market the aforementioned games. In the past, Square Enix has referred to Marvel's Avengers and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as disappointments. At the time, it was hard to understand why Square Enix would label the latter as such after it found critical acclaim. Now, we understand why.
