Square Enix has announced that Luminous Productions, developer of the recently released Forspoken, will merge with the publisher on May 1st. As per an official statement, this is to “further bolster the competitive prowess of the Group’s development studios, a goal set forth under its current medium-term business strategy.”
Luminous Productions confirmed the merger on Twitter and said it would “deliver new, innovative gaming experiences to players across the globe.” In the meantime, it’s focusing on patches to improve Forspoken’s performance (with an update coming soon) and the upcoming story DLC, In Tanta We Trust, which is on track for this Summer. The developer thanked fans for “taking this journey with us” and looked forward to creating “new entertainment and experiences as part of the Square Enix family.”
Forspoken launched on January 24th for PS5 and PC after multiple delays. It received mixed critical reception due to its story, script, and world design, though combat was praised (check out our review here). Though Square Enix didn’t confirm sales, its launch week on Steam was nothing to write home about. While Luminous’s employees will no doubt work on other projects at Square Enix, this is more or less the end of the studio as a separate entity.