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It may be some time before we see another Deus Ex game, according to the latest report from Eurogamer, as it seems publisher Square Enix has put the franchise on hold while it concentrates on its recently announced multi-game Marvel collaboration.
This isn’t the first time the series will have gone into hibernation, as there was an eight-year gap between 2003’s Deus Ex: Invisible War and Eidos Montreal’s 2011 title, Human Revolution. However, with many story threads left unresolved at the end of last year’s Mankind Divided, which was also developed by Eidos Montreal, it’s now uncertain whether the developer will be able to finish telling the story of lead protagonist Adam Jensen.
Mankind Divided went straight in at No.1 in the UK charts when it launched back in August 2016, but even its strong first week wasn’t enough for it to outperform its predecessor Human Revolution. Indeed, Eurogamer’s sources suggest that Mankind Divided’s poor sales performance was another factor in the decision to put the series on hiatus.
Right now, Eurogamer says the main bulk of Eidos Montreal is hard at work on the next Tomb Raider game, which leaked at the end of last year after a PowerPoint presentation on the game was spotted on a subway in Montreal. The game is allegedly called Shadows of the Tomb Raider, but it’s not yet known when the game will release.
The Tomb Raider team at Crystal Dynamics, meanwhile, is taking the lead in Square Enix’s recently announced multi-game project with Marvel, the first title of which will be an Avengers game. Both Marvel and Square Enix have said that they won’t be announcing any new details on the Avengers game until 2018, either, so don’t expect to see the game on shop shelves until at least 2019 at the earliest.
Eidos Montreal has also been confirmed to be working on the Marvel project, with Eurogamer also stating that a small section of the team has already started production on a second Marvel title based around Guardians of the Galaxy. Whereas Crystal Dynamics will be leading development on the Avengers game, Eidos Montreal will apparently be leading the Guardians of the Galaxy game, leaving precious little resource available for another Deus Ex title.
In a statement to Eurogamer, Eidos Montreal commented: "While we are still working on expanding the Deus Ex Universe, along with creating new content and updates for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, we’re also devoting our talents towards working with Crystal Dynamics and Marvel on The Avengers project."
