Luminous Productions Of Forspoken Fame Will Be Merged Into Square Enix This May

Square Enix has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Luminous Productions, will be merged into Square Enix (via RPG Site).

The studio that recently made the action RPG Forspoken will no longer be its own entity starting 1st May 2023. Luminous Productions has its own statement about the upcoming merger via Twitter, saying that the company’s remaining tasks include addressing Forspoken’s performance and DLC In Tanta We Trust.

https://twitter.com/LumiPro_EN/status/1630449903385329665

Square Enix said that the merger will bring the Luminous staff’s technical expertise in triple-A game development and engine development to the company’s other HD games. You can check out the full official announcement below from Square Enix themselves:

“SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo; President and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda; hereinafter the “Company”) announces that it will merge its wholly owned subsidiary Luminous Productions Co., Ltd. into its wholly owned subsidiary SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. effective Monday, May 1, 2023.

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. 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.”

This clearly has a lot to do with the reception for Forspoken. The game has received middling reviews, with myself dubbing the game as a mediocre offering, though it’s not a complete lost cause. Also, with mergers like these, don’t be too shocked if you see a number of ex-Luminous devs and programmers updating their LinkedIns and resumes.