After the excellent Human Revolution and Mankind Divided by Eidos Montreal, the studio was planning a sequel, unfortunately canceled by Embracer, with layoffs to boot, last year. As a reminder, the group had undertaken mass acquisitions, including this one, only to later cancel numerous projects and close certain studios. The famous cyberpunk license originally created by Warren Spector was unfortunately one of these. Recently, however, the idea of a return of the Deus Ex license seems to be gaining ground within Eidos Montreal. But this bold gamble is still far from being won.
A real Deus Ex Machina in sight?
Eidos Montéral is currently going through a period of instability. The latest news is that the studio was working in studio with the Playground Games teams for Fable 4. Except that 75 of its employees have been affected by a wave of layoffs. Since the otherwise solid Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, business has been bad for the studio, which notably brought the Deus Ex franchise back to life with talent. Despite the cancellation of its last game in the cyberpunk universe by Embracer, the studio wants to return to this franchise with a new project. This is what Insider Gaming discovered while working on the details of the aforementioned wave of layoffs. Eidos Montreal is currently looking for partners and a publisher to create a new Deus Ex game. However, the studio is not considering recreating the one canceled last year, but rather offering a brand new original story. According to Insider Gaming, the studio has unfortunately only received rejections for its proposal so far. A source close to Eidos Montreal reportedly indicated that the partners contacted found the project to have "charm and novelty," but that it would not meet the "expectations and standards associated with the Deus Ex brand." What would also dampen enthusiasm is the fact that the license is "too niche."
In any case, we hope that the 75 recently laid-off talents quickly find jobs, and that Eidos Montreal is able to realize what appears to be its next dream project. In a world where Cyberpunk 2077 is today a very popular license, a new Deus Ex opus could well also deserve to exist. The future will tell us what becomes of its fate, and that of Eidos Montreal in the broader sense.
Source: Insider Gaming
0 Comments