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New Deus Ex game cancelled after two years and 97 staff lose jobs-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro
Embracer Group has confirmed that dozens of developers from Eidos-Montréal are to be laid off, as the Deus Ex franchise is mothballed.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – sadly many of its creators are now out of a job (Picture: Square Enix)
Embracer Group has confirmed that dozens of developers from Eidos-Montréal are to be laid off, as the Deus Ex franchise is mothballed.
Although it’s Xbox that has dominated headlines recently, by laying off 1,900 game developers, the shadowy Embracer Group has been cutting jobs, and shutting down whole studios, ever since a Saudi funding deal fell through in 2022.
This exposed how reckless Embracer was being, in buying up developers seemingly at random, with no plan of what to do with them, which most recently led to the closure of TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design.
That was in December and now there’s another major victim, with 97 employees set to lose their jobs at Guardians Of The Galaxy developer Eidos-Montréal, who are rumoured to have been working on a new Deus Ex game for the last two years.
The 97 jobs represent around 20% of the studio’s total workforce, with a statement on Twitter confirming that it includes people from development teams, administration, and support services.
‘Our commitment is always to making the best games for our amazing fans and even with this restructuring change, we continue to fight on to deliver those experiences for us to share together,’ reads the statement.
Eidos-Montréal and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics were sold by Square Enix in 2022, with rumours of a new Deus Ex emerging almost immediately afterwards. Although neither studio has released anything new since being bought.
No mention is made of the Deus Ex game in the Twitter statement, but a Bloomberg report suggests that the game was intended to enter full production this year.
Officially, Eidos-Montréal still does not have any current projects announced, although rumours suggest they are helping out Playground Games with the new Fable game for Xbox.
No mention is made of that by the Bloomberg report, which instead states that the developer will now ‘focus on an original franchise’.
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That seems to leave Deus Ex back in limbo, with the sci-fi action role-playing series never proving to be quite successful enough to guarantee regular sequels.
The most recent release for the franchise was mobile game Deus Ex Go in 2016, with the last mainline entry being Deus Ex: Mankind Divided the same year.
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MORE : New Deus Ex ‘very, very early’ in development as Eidos aids with Fable
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MORE : Deus Ex studio wants to return to the series claims rumour – not its next game
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