Forspoken developer Luminous Productions will be merged into Square Enix, the parent company announced this week. This move follows the middling launch of the game that came out in January and was met with lackluster review scores from both users and critics upon its release. Square Enix did not mention Forspoken at all in its announcement about the merger but rather said that Luminous Productions will continue to work under Square Enix “to develop HD games.”
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This announcement is different from the occasional acquisition news that we hear about frequently enough when it other companies simply for the fact that Square Enix already owned Luminous Productions. The developer was a subsidiary of the larger company which is why we’re seeing something like “merged” used here instead of “acquired.” What this essentially means for Luminous Productions, based on what Square Enix has suggested in its wording, is that the developer will be absorbed into Square Enix, so while it’ll still be contributing to the games the company makes, we likely won’t be seeing Luminous Productions’ name headlining new games.
It’s unclear what the plan is for integrating Luminous Productions employees into Square Enix, though Square Enix’s statement said that the merger won’t take place until May 1st.
“The merger is part of the Company’s efforts to further bolster the competitive prowess of the Group’s development studios, a goal set forth under its current medium-term business strategy,” a press release about the matter said. “SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. has developed numerous AAA high-definition (HD) games and possesses a wealth of intellectual property (IP) and content. Luminous Productions Co., Ltd. is meanwhile equipped not only with AAA title development capabilities but also technical expertise in areas such as game engine development. Combining the two entities will further enhance the Group’s ability to develop HD games.”
Forspoken was released on both the PS5 and PC, though the response to it was similar regardless of which platform you looked at. It’s got a Metacritic score below 65 for both platforms, and the user score doesn’t fair any better with that one being as low as 1.7.
