It has been announced that Luminous Productions, developers of Forspoken, will be merged into Square Enix on May 1. Luminous Productions had previously been a separate subsidiary studio owned by Square Enix. This merger changes things, and makes the team at Luminous Productions part of Square Enix as a whole, where they will work on Square Enix’s upcoming AAA titles. Forspoken had a middling reception after its launch, after being in development for years.
The Luminous Productions team being integrated into Square Enix could be bad news for Forspoken fans. Confirmation has been given on Twitter that the planned Forspoken DLC and updates will still be coming, but future games seem unlikely at this point, as the team will be busy with Square Enix’s other big games.
An Update from Luminous Productions pic.twitter.com/fbDENflRhj
— Luminous Productions (@LumiPro_EN) February 28, 2023
Luminous Productions was originally the development team behind Final Fantasy XV, known at the time as Business Division 2. They developed their own engine, Luminous Engine, which was owned by Square Enix. Since this, increasing numbers of Square Enix games have been turning to Unreal Engine for the development of their games, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’s unknown at this point if we’ll see the Luminous Engine again, or if the end of Luminous Productions marks the end of their engine also.
Merging Luminous Productions into wider Square Enix may be a shame for the developer’s independence and the future of their engine, but it has ensured that people have kept their jobs within Square Enix at this time. There’s no word on exactly how Forspoken performed commercially, but we can expect to hear something at Square Enix’s next investor meeting.
Have you played Forspoken? Did you want to see more from Final Fantasy XV‘s Luminous Engine? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news.
