After the failure of Deux Ex: Mankind Divided, many assumed- backed, especially by creditable insider reports, as well as by Square Enix pulling most of their western teams towards development of Marvel themed games- that the franchise was dead. However, at this point, it sounds like Square Enix still treats it as an important part of their portfolio, and intend to make new games for it.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, Square Enix CEO mentioned the importance of the Deus Ex franchise to the publisher, and confirmed that a future game is being explored. “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,” he said. “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.”
He proceeded to add, “We are already internally discussing and exploring what we want do with the next instalment of it.”
This sounds like they are definitely considering a fifth game in the series- the idea is not off the table. Already, that is a good start, though at the same time it also sounds like it is not currently a priority for Square, and that we may be in for a long wait. It’s a shame, because Human Revolution and Mankind Divided were both, in the end, quite good- but I imagine that, for many Deus Ex fans, having a long wait, rather than an interminable one, will be preferable.
In the meanwhile, you can always check out Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which launched last year on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.