A new report from Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier suggests an unannounced Deus Ex game at Eidos Montreal has now been cancelled by the Embracer Group. The RPG title had reportedly been in the works for two years and was set to enter production later in 2024, but developer Eidos Montreal has had to scrap those plans and shift its focus instead to an "original franchise". As a result, it's been confirmed that Embracer Group has laid off 97 staff members at the studio.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the Eidos Montreal account said: "The global economic context, the challenges of our industry and the comprehensive restructuring by Embracer have finally impacted our studio. The difficult decision has been made to let go 97 people from development teams, administration, and support services." The developer is now working with those who have lost their jobs to "find their next projects" as it offers support to "all impacted personnel through this transition". You can read the full statement below.
There had been suggestions a new Deus Ex game had entered development back in 2022, which now appear to have been true. The series hasn't been seen since 2016's PS4 entry Mankind Divided. A well-loved franchise, it'll be disappointing news for fans hoping Adam Jensen would return in the next couple of years.
This is just the latest cut made by publisher Embracer Group, which has downsized considerably over the past 12 months after a reported $2 billion deal with a Saudi Arabian company fell through. TimeSplitters studio Free Radical was recently closed, Tomb Raider team Crystal Dynamics downsized after a round of layoffs, and Volition shuttered after launching the latest Saints Row game. The news comes after Microsoft and Activision jointly let go of 1,900 employees, meaning close to 6,000 video game developers have lost their jobs since the start of the year.
[source bloomberg.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 43
Nooo! That's sad news indeed 😔
That is such a bummer. Not just for those laid off, but Deus Ex is a franchise I really want to get into. Just not a good place to start on modern consoles.
Such sad news. Also horrible how Embracer got all these developers and are now just laying of people left and right.
Sell the IP then
God damn it! This had become one of my more favored franchises. Well, nothing really stays dead forever in this world. All the best to the devs!
Embracer, Microsoft, Sony to a lesser degree. I think it's clear that consolidation is just mainly greed and does not benefit developers at all in terms of their job security
Removed - unconstructive; user is banned
Might as well just copy and paste my union comment from last week at this rate.
Deus Ex 1 and Metal Gear Solid 2's narrative has aged like a fine wine. It is almost scary just how much they got right.
How all the higher ups in Embracer Group still have jobs is beyond me, how could these people be so terrible at their jobs and not have to worry about being fired? If any of us messed up half as bad as them in our jobs we would be fired, sued and blacklisted.
Obviously every story about lay-offs sucks… but this one hurts!
The Embracer group is going to implode real soon they bought way too much this shows why Sony does not buy every company. It's not only the cash for the company but the workers the extra studio's it's insanely expensive to manage.
Really curious to know what Grimwood said now 😂
Yep yet again Embracer being the worst thing to happen to gaming in years sadly.
@Flaming_Kaiser Here's the thing Embracer never intended to keep what they bought, the plan was to offload to some really shady Saudi business what fell flat on its face leaving Embracer stuck with all these IP's and studios they don't want.
This is heartbreaking 💔
Terrible news. Deus ex is excellent IP and you should all play it
@DennisReynolds more info is that Saudi investment fund was intended to invest 2 billions into embracer group, but at the end said No, and in plans to receive 2 billions Embracer bought up everything they could be taking out cheap loans at that time.
Whats with all the lay offs in the gaming industry?
Absolutely gutted about all of this. Gutted for the devs being laid off. Gutted no more Deus Ex, maybe for good. Just sucks.
Embracer group is a cancer and an example of what would happen if Sony or MS over acquire studios left and right.
Why even purchase these studios if all you're gonna do is cancel their games and fire their staff? At this point they actually better off at Square Enix!
Square Enix sent such good developers to the slaughter house for no good reason.
God I want to see Embracer fall. I'll never and I repeat ever buy anything published by them again.
Deus Ex - Under-rated with a Strong Narrative - Would like to think the IP will surface elsewhere - The Augmented James Bond Format was a Good Formula
@Savage_Joe Nah difference is MS and Sony when buying studios actually want them and intend to keep them unlike Embracer.
I know this horse has been beaten many times before but seriously. Embracer is just awful. When was the last time they were in the news for a good reason? Or did that ever even happen? Just shameful the way they have conducted themselves.
You win some you lose some. I am sure that Embracer didn't have bad intentions.
This is ridiculous. A really bad decision by Embracer. This studio's last game was amazing and an award winning game (Guardians of the galaxy) and they regularly released high quality games in the Deus Ex series and Tomb raider series.
This is incredibly short sighted by Embracer. This is one of their few studios that could have delivered a banger hit.
@DennisReynolds tell that to Bungie…
Can Sony or Microsoft just come in and save some of these studios. I know it's not the perfect ideal, but Embracer is worse with studios and IP's than anyone out there.
Just move some studios on, cut your losses and f*** right off, Embracer! 👍
@DennisReynolds That's even worse for the developers the Saudis are here to make a quick buck they don't care about them. But to be fair Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo or any other big company just cares as little them.
Oh, man. That sucks.
Terrible news, always loved the series.
They should have never bought all of these studios and IPs if they had no intention of keeping everything as is. Other than layoffs of course since almost everybody is doing it and it would have likely happened anyways.
I've never played a Deus Ex game, but obviously people were looking forward to this. In the end, it still sucks that this is happening as it could happen to more of the things they acquired. Luckily Tomb Raider got picked up by Amazon.
I hope this Embracer fiasco won't be forgotten by the next time some shady conglomerate wants to buy up every game developer in sight.
Ah crap! Deus Ex is one of my most cherished series. From all the way back with DE The Conspiracy on the PS2, DE Invisible Worlds on the first Xbox and then later on DE Human Revolution on the PS3 and DE Mankind Devided on the PS4. Played 'em all multiple times, the open-ended levels and ditto gameplay lends itself perfectly for more playthroughs and i was looking forward to play a new installment sometime in the future.. Kinda saddened now tbh, Deus Ex, Thief and System Shock introduced a new way to play stealth/RPG FPS games that would become the blueprint for numerous games in the future(BioShock, Fallout 3 etc.) I really hope someone picks up the IP and makes a new game, it's a legendary series that doesn't deserve this
Time to make some trash games.
Guess I’m never playing Mankind Divided now
Oh man to hell with embracer. Some competent company please take over. Especially sad about Deus Ex. Those games were everything arkane made, just done right... unlike arkane.
I think you have to look at the studios. Games cost millions to develop and many years, all of that can be lost in launch reviews over two or three days. The last Saints Row is a great example, I enjoyed the game but reviewers not so much so its sales did not even take off as hoped and their is no almost no recovery stories ok Cyberpunk. So the studio essentially went bust unless the publisher bailed it out. Publishers can not keep doing that. So went it is obvious the game is not going to make the grade and at least cover costs, the game should be halted. Surely those in power at volition should have seen Saints was not going to hit the expectations and that the game was clearly not happening as AAA hit long before it was released. They should have pulled the plug or released at a lower price point where game buyers may have take a punt at it.
Easy to blame Embracer and they appear to have simply moved to fast in picking up studios. But studios do not unlimited funds nor do publishers. Too many games being released looses quality which looses sales which kills the company. Other extreme Rockstar very few games but usually very high quality.
I'm not a big Deus Ex fan. Just never got into them, though I tried. So while I may not be upset like fans are, I'm simply surprised. You'd think after the success of Cyberpunk that a company would see the potential to add to the market with another deep, sprawling, sci-fi RPG. Feed off some of that energy/interest.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was truly great, and I still rate the cinematic trailer they did for the game as one of the best mood trailers ever for a game.
Mankind Divided was in comparison really disappointing, apparently rushed through development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq5KWLqUewc
@DennisReynolds exactly and I've yet to see any site cover that
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