Modern Deus Ex developer Eidos Montreal reportedly wants to return to the cyberpunk series immediately and hopes to surpass Cyberpunk 2077 in doing so.
These rumors come from prolific insider Jeff Grubb, speaking on Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings podcast. Grubb notes that any internal discussions about Eidos Montreal’s next project are very early, but he says the studio is eager to return to Deus Ex.
“It’s early. The rumble I’ve heard is that the studio wants to get into Deus Ex immediately. They want to get right back in there. They want to challenge – they want to do what Cyberpunk 2077 couldn’t, and so on. That’s it. word going around. We’ll see if that happens. It’s so early, like what that will be. But there was no way for that conversation to start under the current Square Enix, right?”
Square Enix was the previous owner of Eidos Montreal and the Deus Ex franchise, but sold both – in addition to Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider IP – to the Embracer Group as part of a $300 million deal. Embracer named Deus Ex alongside Tomb Raider, Thief, and Legacy of Kain as one of the franchises it saw “great potential”, suggesting sequels alongside “remakes, remasters, spin-offs, [and] transmedia projects.”
Embracer has also said there are “very sizable AAA experiences in the pipeline” from Eidos Montreal and its other newly acquired studios, including “beloved franchises we will own, as well as original IPs.” Just before the Embracer sale, a new Tomb Raider game was announced.
Square Enix says it is afraid that these western games “cannibalize” the sale of its Japanese portfolio.