Eidos Montreal Founder Stephane D'Astous Talks Work with Square Enix
The former studio head commented on Eidos Montreal's commercial failures and reflected on the issues that, in his opinion, led to Square Enix selling the studio.
Stephane D'Astous, the founder of Eidos Montreal who served as its CEO until leaving in 2013, recently spoke about his experience of working at the studio, the challenges he has encountered, and issues that, in his opinion, led to Square Enix selling the studio.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, D'Astous shared that he could predict that Eidos Montreal's relationship with Square Enix could end up this way. According to him, despite the quality of the games the studio produced, it has never had "superior knowledge of how to sell their games."
"We hit good numbers, don't get me wrong, but I always felt that the way to sell games that Eidos used were so traditional and conventional. That it wasn't innovative. And it was always underselling the quality of the games," D'Astous said. "I hoped when Square Enix purchased Eidos in 2009 that that would change things."
However, this didn't happen. In 2012, when Eidos-owned studios were expected to make $65 million in profits, they suffered a $65 million loss. The developers, according to D'Astous, were "dumbfounded" by this. Employees tried to discuss the situation with management from the London office, but the publisher's managers did not comment on it. This disappointed D'Astous and he left Eidos Montreal.
The former studio head was also unhappy with Square Enix's interaction with Eidos. The Japanese publisher constantly reported that they were disappointed with the results of individual games, pointing, according to D'Astous, to Eidos games.
D'Astous also shared that he believes the sale of the Eidos studios for a relatively small amount to Embracer could be related to rumors about a possible deal between Square Enix and Sony, which Eidos was not interested in.
"I heard rumours that Sony said they're really interested in Square Enix Tokyo, but not the rest," he said. "So, I think [Square Enix CEO Yosuke] Matsuda-san put it like a garage sale."
D'Astous believes that $300 million is a low price for Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal. But at the same time, as the former Eidos Montreal head noted, it reflects the low prospects of these studios and the lack of interest in them of other companies. According to D'Astous, for Eidos Montreal to be successful, it must have a clear goal and a vision for its development.
