Deus Ex Franchise Rumored to be Put on Hold

Vague unnamed sources are not exactly the most trustworthy thing in the universe, however when several outlets like Kotaku and Eurogamer report similar things, perhaps there is something to the rumors. This time, these rumors concern the future of the Deus Ex franchise, that is apparently put on indefinite hold.

In the meanwhile, Eidos Montreal will be focusing their efforts on the next Tomb Raider game, and a couple of Marvel tie-in projects. From the looks of it, this is the result of underwhelming Mankind Divided sales, as well as Square Enix's new partnership with Marvel that demands additional workforce.

Here's an excerpt from the Kotaku article:

We may be waiting a long time for the next big Deus Ex game. The developers of the iconic franchise have moved on to other big franchises, according to sources speaking both to Kotaku and other outlets. Sources say Eidos Montreal has cancelled a planned sequel to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which came out last year.

[...]

From what we hear, Square Enix doesn’t plan to greenlight another Deus Ex game at Eidos Montreal for quite some time, unless Mankind Divided suddenly becomes more profitable. Mankind Divided was a large investment for the Japanese publisher, taking nearly five years to make.

The good folks at Eurogamer first reported this news earlier this morning, which we can confirm, since I’d heard much of the same from separate sources last week.

On Friday, publisher Square Enix sent me the following statement:
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.

Now, if this hiatus will be the end of Deus Ex as we know it, or if it will end up being the break that's needed to put the franchise back on track, remains to be seen. Still, the pattern holds where only odd-numbered titles get to be remembered as successes.