Embracer Group Rebrands Square Enix Montréal as Onoma

Square Enix Montréal has been rebranded as Onoma following its acquisition by Embracer Group earlier this year.

On a post on its new website, Onoma shared a behind the scenes insight into the rebranding and the story behind it, stating that its strength has always been the “ability to evolve and adapt to trends and market changes”, expressing excitement for the transformation.

The new branding will serve “as an umbrella to multiple products, programs and initiatives,” the post said, claiming each had “distinct personalities”. The brand aims to be flexible and cater to growth into the future as well as being able to connect with different audiences.

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What’s in a name? Everything! Today, Square Enix Montréal becomes ????????????????????!

⭐New name, new look, same studio. We’re still us but in a new and improved version!

Read all about our rebrand story https://t.co/dicQiG8UKe

— Onoma (@StudioOnoma) October 6, 2022

Onoma is Greek for “name”, and the studio says this offers “endless possibilities”. It also ventures that names shape identities and begin stories. The name was thought up by an in-house team as the studio prides itself on “putting people before product” as it believes the internal staff know the studio and brand best. It created a rebranding squad in May 2022 who were focused on research, the community, engagement experts and the legal aspects of rebranding the studio.

The art of the branding is “streamlined, playful and timeless” stated Onoma, with a focus on clean lines, primary colours and basic shapes “inspired by the Bauhaus art movement”.

The acquisition is not the only big move by Embracer Group this year, as it also recently shifted ownership of the Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain franchises over to its Crystal Dynamics studio. 

In other news, figures for Microsoft’s Game Pass service have been made public as part of its ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to a document, Xbox Game Pass generated £2.6bn ($2.9bn) in the fiscal period ending January 2021 – but this figure does not include its PC Game Pass offering as part of the Game Pass Ultimate service.