Shortly after being acquired by Embracer Group, Square Enix Montreal changed its name to Studio Onoma and revealed that it was working on a new IP. Now just a few weeks later, Embracer Group has cancelled that project and shut down the studio. 

Onoma was a bit of an outlier studio for Embracer Group. Typically, the publishing giant has focused on console and PC game development, but Onoma was a mobile-focused studio. Since this didn't really fit with Embracer's plans, Onoma is shutting down, as reported by Bloomberg.

Studio Onoma had around 200 employees, some of which will face layoffs as part of the closure, while others will be transferred to Embracer's other newly acquired studio, Eidos Montreal. This boost in employees will help Eidos ramp up development efforts on a new IP that it is working on. Additionally, the studio has begun early work on the next Deus Ex game.

Onoma's shutdown is reportedly part of a larger cost-cutting effort within Embracer Group, so we may see other studios impacted as well in the months to come.

Interestingly, it is also claimed that much like Crystal Dynamics, Eidos is also helping Xbox with an upcoming game. While Crystal Dynamics has taken on co-development duties for Perfect Dark, Eidos is apparently working with Playground Games on the upcoming Fable reboot.

KitGuru Says: This move comes as a surprise, mainly due to the timing of it. Onoma rebranded less than a month ago and now the studio will simply cease to exist. 

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