Deus Ex Series Still Has A Future, Insists Square Enix CEO

After what Square Enix described to be underwhelming sales of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, it was announced that the series would be on hiatus. But according to Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsudo, the series isn't going away forever.

In a wide-ranging interview with GamesIndustry.Biz, Matsuda says that plans -- at the very least preliminary ones -- are underway for the next installment. Although Square subsidiary studio Eidos Montreal is currently at work with sister studio Crystal Dynamics co-developing an Avengers project for Marvel Entertainment, Matsuda stressed that Deus Ex remains a "very important franchise."

"We have never said anything about discontinuing that title but for some reason that's the rumor out on the market," Matsuda said. "What I can say is Eidos Montreal has always developed Deus Ex, and the issue is we do not have limitless resources. We have several big titles that we work with and that's partly a factor in what our line-up looks like."

"Of course, it would be ideal if we could work on all of them all of the time, but the fact of the matter is some titles have to wait their turn. The reason there isn't a Deus Ex right now is just a product of our development line-up because there are other titles we are working on. We are already internally discussing and exploring what we want do with the next installment."

Unfortunate, since Mankind Divided was intended to open a transmedia franchise called the Deus Ex Universe that would include additional Deus Ex games on mobile devices and book and graphic novel spin-offs. That never came to pass, and watchful observers may have noticed that FFXV was the successful inheritor of that ambition.

So while Matsuda was insistent about continuing the Deus Ex franchise, he didn't provide any further details at what such plans might involve. And with many years likely between Mankind Divided and the untitled Avengers project means we can't expect Eidos Montreal will have the next Deus Ex out too soon.