Deus Ex: MD - Series in Jeopardy?

Gamepressure speculates that Square Enix may abandon the Deus Ex series:

Why Square Enix may have actually pulled the plug on Deus Ex

Recently, we’ve been hearing rumors about the alleged suspension of the Deus Ex series. In this article, I’d like to present possible reasons for such development and share some of my thoughts on the present condition of the said franchise.

The Deus Ex series might be in jeopardy. Gaming websites report that further development of the cyberpunk franchise has allegedly been suspended due to poor sales of last year’s Mankind Divided. Honestly, even before Eurogamer and Kotaku published news on the topic, I had thought that Mankind Divided wasn’t doing very well. Unfortunately, financial failure of such a big investment could be reason enough to shut down the Deus Ex Universe project. Needless to say, this means we might never learn what happened after the finale of the brilliant successor of Human Revolution. In this article, I share some of my thoughts and insights on the recent rumors and the Deus Ex franchise’s general condition of late.

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A most unfortunate demise. Hopefully CD Projekt will bring the genre back to life.

What a damn shame. Enjoyed dev commentary on HR almost as much as the game( you could see enthusiasm behind it).
It's not the end for Deus Ex, but it is for Adam Jensen. Let's say he got tired of chasing conspiracy theories and spends his days dancing in chinese brothels:

If DX sequels are axed, it'll make me very sad.
On the other hand, if Square Enix planned to torture DX on PC audience with more phonegames, it's better not to see more abominations and remember what series were before The Fall and Breach travesties.

EA supposedly learned the lesson from Dungeon Master phonecrap, here's hope SE will learn from DX.

Squenix has ruined a pillar of computer gaming. What a bloody, damned shame.

Without Square Enix DX would still rest with the fishes and DX:IW would have been its final chapter.

They should design a new protagonist for the next game for sure. A fresh new face for Deus Ex. Adam Jensen could still play a role, but maybe not as a main character.

Anyhow I wouldn't be too worried. Deus Ex is too grand intellectual property to be thrown into a trashcan. Someone will pick it up sooner or later.

Not surprised really given how Deus Ex: MD turned out. As I hate to say it but Revolution was the better game, and frankly I'm surprised at how Edios messed up the sequel.

A while ago I've said that I was hoping that Deus Ex:MD won't do well so I'm glad that things turned out the way they did. Eidos fucked up this game badly and deserves to be punished.
Will Eideos/Square Enix learn something from this fiasco? Maybe. Or maybe not…

They won't. All they care about is Final Fantasy, everything else is expendable.

joxer said:

They won't. All they care about is mobile Final Fantasy, everything else is expendable.

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Fixed it for you...

So they do an ok but not great game with a horrible marketing decision (real $$ for in game items); and are upset because sales aren't great so they kill the francise ? Can't they just fire the horrible exec and produce a good game without scum marketing (real $$ for in game items) ?

That same company owns Fullmetal Alchemist yet all they did were three piece of s (phone)games instead of masterpieces this manga/anime deserves.
Anachronox, what's that - is Square Enix' motto.

On the other hand, reboot of Tomb Raider is fantastic, both games. Chaos Rings 2 is a small gem sadly made for phones although would be a cult classic if was graphically "enhanced" and then added on Steam.

I'm not sure what's going on in that company. Some products shine, some are total bullshit. Seems that it's executives do not communicate among themselves at all or Square Enix doesn't have any plan at all so they "play" some dice on what'll they do next.

Joxer said:

I'm not sure what's going on in that company. Some products shine, some are total bullshit. Seems that it's executives do not communicate among themselves at all or Square Enix doesn't have any plan at all so they "play" some dice on what'll they do next.

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There must be some active idiots who try to put microtransactions and similar crap into everything while others still have some brain cells functional.

you said:

Can't they just fire the horrible exec and produce a good game without scum marketing (real $$ for in game items) ?

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Unfortunately horrible execs are often untouchable and the fact they have zero responsibility gives them even more motivation to screw and gamble over everything. In case of success they will quickly take credit for it and if it fails the devs or someone else will get the blame.

Sorry, that's bumper-sticker wisdom.

Of course they do have a responsibility. If not, Yoichi Wada would still be CEO of that company he helped to build. But they are definitely not responsible for the aesthetic success of their products. They are responsible for the economic success of the company. Because they are responsible, that every employee gets his loan and healthcare insurance at the end of the month (sth especially Germans often don't understand, because their health insurance is guaranteed). They are also responsible that every shareholder gets his reward for his investment. Because nobody simply gives money to a company, some pensions even depend on that RoI (sth Germans also very often don't understand, because they think buying stocks, especially for a pension plan, is something only for the rich and insane). But everybody want's to be sure that he can pay his medial supplies when in retirement or suffering from cancer. Statistically that concerns more than 50 % of our western society at least temporary. So everybody wants a profit.

If execs reach that goal by selling shiny pens or profound philosophical gaming software doesn't interest anyone they really have to give account to - that's not the gamer in his living room. As long as gamers buy season passes for map packs in Call of Duty/Battlefield, item packs in Dragon Age multiplayer or new car models in Forza or Project Cars, execs will be tempted or forced to command implementation of such mechanics. As long as the market approves and devs don't find another answer they have to oblige such demands. It's just that simple. Just convince everybody not to buy such things and everything will be fine. So why don't you blame the customers of such "scum"?

Because blaming poor decisions on customers and workforce so far didn't save any company.
Let's change it and next time fire CEO to see if that helps. I bet it will.

Surprisingly the nominees for the perfect gamer company in many cases are already dead. Its fans often comfort themselves that it was another big bad company who ruined them, instead of asking why it needed to be sold to that big bad company.

You can't solve that problem by punishing one of them. It's a thrend throughout the whole industry. A single cadaver is simply the only one who didn't adapt the right way. But it won't stop the rest, when there are others who succeed.

Japanese, in order to sponge their debt, are turning more and more toward the world market.
Theirs japanese IPs are somewhat an obstacle to selling so they tried to acquire IPs that suit more world wide dominant culture.

Now, from the start, if they were able to acquire those IPs like DX, that is maybe because those IPs had not much juice left in them.

DX universe was cool ten years ago. A bit less now.

Don't agree. Ten years ago, DX was the only game in the top- and mid-class segment to explore the cyberpunk genre. Cyberpunk was dead. Now we have Shadowrun mit modest success, and Cyberpunk 2069 on the horizon,. Even Blade Runner makes a return in cinema. I'd say, now is the best moment for a cyberpunk game. As long as you do not expect to sell 6 million in the first month. Just like Survival Horror, it is a niche genre, 'though quite prominent for a niche.

You can;'t really compare the shadow run games to Deus games because the budget and scope were different. The cost of the shadow run games was really low and the sales of the shadow run games would never support the deus games. Having said that it will be interesting to see if cyber 2077 sells like witcher 3