Now that it’s squarely under new ownership, Square Enix Montreal has officially rebranded itself as Studio Onoma. It was originally thought that Square Enix was opening a new studio called Studio Onoma in August. Founded in 2011, the developer behind various mobile adaptations like Deus Ex Go, Lara Croft Go, and Hitman Go is looking forward to a new chapter under Embracer Group. Square Enix Montreal, along with Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics, were sold to Embracer for $300 million.
Studio Onoma working on three games
Without the Square Enix label anymore, Studio Onoma hopes that this name change will help it “connect with multiple audiences” and not hinder it “from expanding with the market” according to its new website. After creating a Rebrand Squad of communications and design experts in May 2022, the studio settled on “Onoma” as it means “name” in Greek.
The post describes at length about the custom font, the elongated ‘O’ in the name, and the influence of the Bauhaus art movement. The explanation went a bit over my head, but at the end of the day, let’s just be glad that it chose a name that is unique at least. It’s not like what happened with Dontnod, which rebranded itself to “Don’t Nod” in May, which likely confused a lot of people in their Google searches.
Studio Onoma has at least three games currently in development, including Space Invaders, Avatar Generations, and Tomb Raider Reloaded.
