Embracer Group Cancels ‘Deus Ex’ Video Game
Embracer Group Cancels ‘Deus Ex’ Video Game
The Swedish gaming company Embracer Group AB is canceling a video game in the beloved Deus Ex series after two years of development and will lay off a number of employees as part of an ongoing initiative to cut costs, according to people familiar with the moves.
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The Swedish gaming company Embracer Group AB is canceling a video game in the beloved Deus Ex series after two years of development and will lay off a number of employees as part of an ongoing initiative to cut costs, according to people familiar with the moves.
Eidos, the Montreal, Canada-based studio behind the game, will instead focus on an original franchise. The canceled Deus Ex project, which had not yet been announced, was slated to enter production later this year, said the people, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to talk to the press.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following a period of massive expansion during the pandemic, Embracer Group has lately been making widespread layoffs, game cancellations and studio closures.
The sci-fi Deus Ex series has been critically acclaimed and sold more than 14 million units worldwide. It was acquired by Embracer in 2022.
Fuck Embracer. I was following the rumors for quite a bit and this is such a massive disappointment. Deus Ex has to be one of the most mismanaged video game franchises of all time. I don't understand why they'd give up on a loyal fanbase in favor of an "original franchise".
As a mass effect and dragon age fan, I empathize so much with you. Love deus ex too, so many rpgs just left ignored.
I really don't understand it. All of these games would be smash hits. Let's be honest even if they weren't very good the franchises are known so well that they would all be bought, and older game sales would swell too. To me it's a no brainier, make the game, it prints money. They're just so terrified of having to... Invest in something to get a payout.
It makes even less sense considering the pivot to an "original franchise." If they're cynically trying to print money, why not cash in on something with an established active fanbase? Seems like less of a risk.
I'd have bought a new Deus Ex game, regardless if it got badly reviewed. Not really interested in whatever they're cooking up now. I'm sure most of us fans probably feel the same way.
I'm not saying that the game would've been kept off Eidos was still at SE, but I'm so tired of big corporations acquiring companies just for their IP while killing their projects and laying off their staff.
Embracer has a long history of acquisitions, and I am kind of wondering how long it will take until they decide to just "loan" out the IP they've bought instead of putting out any games at all.
I am honestly not super sure about this strategy of buying your way into being a major publisher by vacuuming up IP nobody else was bidding for. What did they think would happen? Did they think the old majors were leaving a ton of money on the table and then realized too late that these really weren't that profitable? Or was it just a bid that the low interest rates would last forever and the portfolion would just pay for itself if they bundled it large enough?
I don't know what the business plan was meant to be, and it's kinda killing me that I don't fully grasp it.
Did they think the old majors were leaving a ton of money on the table and then realized too late that these really weren't that profitable?
It always struck me as Moneyball. That yes, the big publishers were leaving a ton of money on the table by not catering to customers that are there but have been long abandoned in favor of the true goliaths like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed. The way the big publishers used to operate was by making a lot of bets and then building on what worked while making other new bets. Instead, AAA portfolios went from dozens of games per year down to single digits. When you make a lot of bets, some of them inevitably won't work.
Or was it just a bid that the low interest rates would last forever and the portfolion would just pay for itself if they bundled it large enough?
Yes, not mutually exclusive with the above strategy, lol.
The IP they bought was largely neglected in the first place, so I'm not sure there's much of a market for it. More likely they cast a large net with the properties they own, and the winners are the ones that survive the current economic conditions.
the thing is, cyberpunk 2077 released and did gangbusters (after perhaps the rockiest launch cycle in recent memory, but still. game sold well). Deus Ex taps into a lot of the same themes and aesthetics that got cyberpunk 2077 to sell well, it just seems like embracer doesn't see it as a safe bet, and their definition of safe is informed heavily by their recent fuck-up with their sauid acquisition gambit. It's a function of a bunch of executives with eyes bigger than their stomach and then having to ballast every possible IP they can manage in order to not ruin the ~shareholder value~ they're working so hard to not shunt into the atmosphere.
Can embracer just finally fuck off for good please?
I never thought I'd hate a gaming publisher more than EA or Ubisoft, but here we are...
I mean, was it better when these devs were put to work on an Avengers game that no one wanted?
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
FUCKING F U C K !!
I did NOT ask for this.
I know people like the originals more than the newer ones, but I really enjoyed those too, I really love Adam Jensen and all the stereotypes on him, and Mankind Divided ended in a huge cliffhanger. I guess I'll never know how it ends =/
My PS4 copy of Mankind Divided is still wrapped. I refuse to have blue balls on the cliffhanger
When I watched Embracer hoovering up all those studios, I knew they'd end up burning everything to the ground.
How's that infinite growth treating you, you fucking dumbasses?
A Space Force meme? I thought I was the only person who watched that show
There are dozens of us!
This is the kind of thing Bob Page would do.
This is just terrible. I love Deus Ex and was hoping to see a new game in the next 5 years.
Cut costs now, but they're not gonna get sales later. Have fun explaining the lack of exponential growth to the shareholders.
That's not how it works. Making money today is the only thing these ghouls care about, ruining a company or brand is just dandy because they won't be holding the bag when it bursts. They'll have passed it to someone else. Someone else who will then work to gut the company even more before selling it to someone who will gut it and close it down.
And nothing of real value will have been made, but lots of rich asshats will be slightly richer.