Forspoken developer Luminous Productions is merging with its publisher, Square Enix. This is despite Forspoken being met with mixed reviews from critics and an even worse reception from fans, criticised for its dull combat, empty open world, and "cringy" dialogue.
Luminous Productions just confirmed the move on Twitter, revealing that the merger will be complete by May 1. The statement reassures fans that it remains focussed on Forspoken "for now", but it's not clear how long it will be permitted to support the game beyond this.
"Beginning on May 1, our talented team will join Square Enix to deliver new, innovative gaming experiences to players across the globe," reads the statement shared on Twitter.
It goes on to say that the team will still work on Forspoken, and is currently working on a patch that addresses "overall game performance." The statement says that there will be an update on this patch "soon".
On top of this, the studio says that the upcoming DLC is still on track for a summer release, so it seems that the merger shouldn't affect that release window.
While this may sound positive for the time being, it's worth remembering how ruthless Square Enix can be when an IP isn't reaching its expectations. Last year, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal were sold to Embracer Group for a relatively small sum. This came after misses like Marvel's Avengers, and poor sales from the critically acclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy. Due to this, Square gave up ownership of huge franchises like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex, as it seemed to not want too many single-player games to worry about at once.
So, with Forspoken not being a runaway success either critically or (apparently) commercially, it remains to be seen how long Square Enix waits before it pulls the plug. Of course, it's not a live service, so it will still function. But we may get fewer updates than the devs originally intended.