Embracer Group has reportedly shut down the game studio Onoma, formerly known as Square Enix Montreal. The studio has best known for creating mobile games of Square Enix’s Western franchises such as Lara Croft Go, Hitman Go, and Deus Ex Go.
It was announced in May that Embracer Group would purchase Square Enix’s Western studios and have control of certain franchises like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. The timing of Onoma’s closure is strange given that it was renamed from Square Enix Montreal only just last month.
According to a report from Bloomberg, it seems to be a cost-cutting measure. Some employees of Onoma will be transferred over to Eidos Montreal. That studio has reportedly canceled an unannounced game, which is a Stranger Things-inspired “kids on bikes” adventure. It is also reducing the scope of another game, which is a new IP.
There is also a new Deus Ex game reportedly in development at Eidos Montreal, but it’s still very early in the process. Eidos Montreal is also reportedly working with Microsoft on some games, including a Fable one, though it’s unknown whether it is the reboot currently in development.
This isn’t the first time a Square Enix studio has worked with Microsoft. In September 2021, Marvel’s Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics announced that it would be co-developing a Perfect Dark reboot with Microsoft AAAA studio The Initiative.
When Square Enix sold its Western studios to Embracer Group, Crystal Dynamics was one of them. However, Crystal Dynamics stated that the sale would not affect the development of Perfect Dark.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.