News broke yesterday that multiple parties were interested in buying popular game developer and publisher Square Enix. While Square Enix did release a statement claiming that it was not interested in selling, its stock prices did not listen.

The original story of Square Enix's acquisition came from the website CTFN citing two unidentified bankers. The news then grew in popularity after it was picked up by Bloomberg Japan until Square Enix released an official statement clarifying that the company not only hadn't received any communications about being purchased but would not be interested in selling even if it had.

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Despite Square Enix's protest of the news, the company's stock still rose 12%. The price jump is the largest the stock has received in the past eight months and sees the company trading near the all-time high that was set last year. This means that Square Enix currently has a market value of 845 billion yen, or $7.8 billion. Despite the company's dissuasion of the rumors, the possibility of the company being acquired does make sense. The company boasts some extremely strong and recognizable IPs in the games industry, including Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest, and Deus Ex, all of which would make the company very attractive to high-level buyers like Microsoft or Sony.

Acquisitions within the games industry have also been quite popular lately, with the most recent eyebrow-raising buy being Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion. Xbox has been particularly aggressive in bolstering its portfolio of developers and has also been vocal about wanting to expand into the Japanese market more, both of which would make Square Enix a valuable target for the company. The purchase would also make sense from Sony's side, as the high-quality AAA titles that Square Enix is known for would fit nicely in the stable of PlayStation's exclusives.

As much sense as Square Enix's acquisition would make, it is most likely better for gamers that the company stay independent. A purchase from Microsoft or Sony would lead to the studio's future titles likely being made exclusive to the platform owned by their buyer as leverage. This would be very unfortunate for fans of the established series without that platform, especially if Square Enix was bought by Sony who is just now opening up to releasing their first-party titles on PC. While Square Enix's acquisition is not completely off the table, it seems unlikely that the company would make the sale anytime soon, especially with heavy-hitting titles like Final Fantasy 16 just over the horizon.

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Source: Bloomberg