Deus Triple Ex?

Will Deus Ex 3 be a loss leader for Eidos in the battle for Montreal?

So it's well known now that along with Ubisoft and EA, other major publishers have started to edge their way into Montreal to take advantage of the ever-expanding game development community here. Among them - Eidos, who historically have published many of my favorite games, but who in recent years seem to have had a hard time maintaining traction (in my humble opinion).

So the word on the street is that the new Eidos Montreal studio - headed by former Ubi VP Operations Stephane Dastous is starting to ramp up, and their first big title (or one of their first?) might be Deus Ex 3. Cool. I have no idea if this is true - I'm only getting 3rd or 4th hand rumours, but when I think about it, it makes sense.

Despite the fact that the DX series seems to have a hard time turning a buck, it is a game that has huge appeal for developers. Practically every developer I have ever met loved the original (though most seem to say they were disappointed with the sequel - but that's crazy-talk). I am pretty sure most developers would jump at the chance to work on a DX title... and maybe that's the Eidos strategy here.

They can use the title to attract developers to their studio to help them staff up to a couple hundred people - DX certainly has that kind of draw. Then, frankly, it doesn't much matter if the game makes money. Breaking even would be nice, and I'm sure that's what they want, but if what they really want is to aggressively recruit and establish a studio here, then leveraging the developer-draw of DX is a smart, smart move.

Of course, if they are starting work on DX3, awesome. I hope they aren't just using it for its draw but that they want to make an incredible game out of it. I'm certain the talent here can do it justice, and I look forward to finding out if the rumours are true.

Comments

[James Everett]

The other rumour has it that their office space is going to be in the big white building right next door to A2M.

Using a developer admired license as a draw might be a necessity if they're going to staff up to 300 people fast. Regardless, it's still going to be expensive. I'd be surprised if there's 100 experienced devs locally ready to go work for them, let alone three times that. A2M has been staffing very aggressively (so has Ubi for that matter) and finding people is freakin hard. Going to be interesting times in Montreal.

[Darius K.]

Very, very interesting. I love picking up on the scuttlebutt from other gaming cities.

[kim]

INteresting theory, but I can't beleive that's the reason. There'd be a ton of ways to gather more interest from a recruiting standpoint. Some examples off the top of my head:

- The google-esque "20% of your time to work on whatever you please"
- Everyone gets an 'experimental' side project
- $20k signing bonus. Hey, if they were going to greenlight a $10M project as a loss leader, this has the same bottom line impact. ($3M loss, say, with 300 employees, and make it payable after 2 years retention, you'll lose some and get to pay it out later).

Anyhow. More likely is that the same 'appeal for developers' that you speak of has infected management and that they are doing the game because "it'll do great; this time we'll make sure to market it right so everyone gets how great it is".

It will be interesting to see how they compete for talent though. Salary is one thing, but traditionally, people are more likely to leave for a place they beleive they'll have more impact, sway over decisions, autonomy, etc.

So how do you (a) create a better corporate culture, and (b) sell it without it sounding like the usual bullsh*t pitch?

[IQpierce]

So your concept is that there is a company that is starting a new studio, and wants the best game developers it can get, so it's launching development of Deus Ex 3 to attract them... AND this company actually cares more about the talent than the money at this stage of the game, so they don't care about the game making a profit, so they're going to let the developers have free reign and follow their own vision of what a DX sequel should be like, without any say from the publisher or marketing department, and presumably with a "done when it's done" philosophy to the deadline?

Wow, I think I'm actually sexually aroused now. Thanks Clint!

Seriously though, you don't have a "too good to be true" filter on your brain, do you?

[rantanplan]

I hear that they are not really going for the salary increase/bonus, but more for the 'we are a small studio, you can make a difference'...

[Will Hindmarch]

After Deadly Shadows, I imagine the likelihood of this is adjacent to nil, but I am wistful that a new Deus Ex could mean a new Thief title, too. Just let me dream.

[temporary office space]

the word on the street this is no rumours... it was indeed confirmed on the tv Show M.Net on Musique Plus last thursday by Eidos France manager.

Dannie