Embracer Group reportedly cancels unannounced Deus Ex game, lays off staff at Eidos Montreal
An unannounced Deus Ex game has reportedly been cancelled by Embracer Group, with layoffs at developer Eidos Montreal.
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What you need to know
It’s another day ending in “y,” which means we’ve got more layoffs in the gaming industry.
This time it’s at Eidos Montreal, the Canadian studio known for its work on numerous games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, andMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. According toBloomberg, Eidos' parent company Embracer Group cancelled an upcoming, still-unannounced Deus Ex game, resulting in a number of employees being laid off.
Eidos Montreal later confirmed the layoffs onTwitter, sharing that 97 employees will no longer have jobs at the company. Bloomberg’s report notes that instead of Deus Ex, Eidos Montreal will now be focusing on an “original franchise.”
Embracer GroupacquiredEidos Montreal, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, and mobile studio Square Enix Montreal in 2022, purchasing the teams and IP from publisher Square Enix.Reports first indicateda new Deus Ex game was in development back in 2022. At the time, Eidos Montreal was reportedly aiming to achieve “what Cyberpunk 2077 couldn’t do.”
Outside of this other project,Eidos Montreal is reportedly assisting Playground Gameswith development on the upcoming Xbox and Windows PC RPGFable.
Embracer Group continues melting down
These are merely the latest layoffs at Embracer Group, a company that has been closing studios and laying off hundreds of employees following acollapsed $2 billion dealwith Saudi-backed Savvy Games Group. Embracer Group hasclosed numerous teamslike Saints Row developer Volition,with layoffs at other studios including Lost Boys Interactive, a team under Gearbox that supported the development of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
Analysis: Just pouring salt in the wounds
Embracer Group does not seem long for the world at its current rate, and seems fixated on slashing apart everything it acquired in order to stave off its inevitable demise. I feel for all the developers affected by this, especially since layoffs are still prevalent across the rest of the industry, withRiot GamesandMicrosoft-owned Activision Blizzardboth cutting portions of their development teams in the past week alone, so there are thousands of people who still don’t have new jobs.
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Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
