Updated LinkedIn resumes indicate widespread high-level turnover at Eidos Montreal; demo reel provides first footage of new game.
Thief 4 may be in trouble. Internet sleuth Superannuation has posted a column at Kotaku that details high-level staff turnover at developer Eidos Montreal.
According to LinkedIn resumes, Thief 4's audio director, two lead level designers, a pair of senior concept artists, a senior technical level designer, a senior animator, and a senior level designer have all left Eidos Montreal since 2010.
On top of this, Superannuation writes that Vancouver-based trailer studio Goldtooth Creative worked on a Thief 4 trailer. According to a Goldtooth editor's resume, this trailer was intended for release in December 2011. Footage from that trailer is shown in a demo reel embedded below.
Thief 4 was officially announced in 2009, with Eidos Montreal general manager Stephane D'Astous saying, "We're in the early stages for Thief 4," and noting that the shop was actively recruiting for the project. No official details on the game have come through since.
A Square Enix representative told GameSpot, "We have no comment to make at this time."
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
The Thief series was awesome. Thief 4 will sell well if they do it right. A cash out on the series will of course be a failure. If the loot system isnt updated and the original stealth game play and feel is different, then you will have a hard sell to make. Otherwise, it would be easy to rally the veterans that remember it and new gamers alike. Thief 4 should play like Hitman marries GTA but but has an affair with Splinter Cell.
A Square Enix representative told GameSpot, "We have no comment to make at this time." .... big news everyone, we have no news :)
Don't give up on this one Square!! Acquiring Eidos was one of the smartest things you did. A hell of a lot more gamers will buy Thief 4 over Final Fantasy XIII-3.2 or whatever the hell you have cooked up.
Damn it! I was looking forward to this game. I hope they can make a quick recovery and make it happen.
Nooooo! I was very happy that Deus Ex, Hitman and Tomb Raider making a come back and I thought Thief would soon follow :(
Perhaps stealth-system will look familiar to Deus Ex: Human Revolution,
It's Eidos Montreal remember,,
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Thief. Cult classic and holy brand of PC gaming. I'm afraid Thief IV will be developed in new Splinter Cell style. It would be disaster.
3 Like Thief 1-2 were amazing, I still play them to this day. Thief 3 could have been a good game on it's own but, as a part of the Thief series, it was a horrible example of consolization of PC games. To this day I cringe whenever someone mentions how they only ever played Deadly Shadows. Thief was the game that ruined FPS for me, teaching me patience and the importance of slowly exploring every corridor (IE: Constatine's mansion mission and The Haunted Cathedral)
They're all now available on the cheap at GOG, do yourselves a favor and at least buy the first two. Once you get past the dated graphics and wrap your head around the stealth play forced on you by the fact that Garrett can be killed with 2 quick sword chops. The best weapons in your arsenal are your water arrows, your club and your ears, or else just drop the club and try ghosting it
Happy Taffing
2 Like Really looking forward to this one. Staff turnover like this is usually means there's house trouble. I will set my expectations accordingly.
2 Like it will turn out very well i'm sure and Human Revolution was amazing, they kept the roots in there and they'll keep them here too. i saw the making of... DVD for Human Revolution, saw how they work, think and apply. it's one of the best teams out there so i'm confident
1 Like This reminds me of DA:O and DA2. The lead designer of DA:O left when they were setting the basics for DA2. Mike Laidlaw took his place and DA2 was made. After playing it a part of me died. Seriously, hope to be wrong with Thief 4, but big changes in staff mean big changes in the game.
@Anigmar It's a bad comparison because your talking Bioware who appear to be on a steep quality decline evident from all their most recent games. EA's influence seems to be killing them. Eidos Montreal made deus ex: HR most recently which stayed pretty true to the original franchise. There's bound to be some modernisation but Eidos seem pretty keen on sticking close to the originals.
@Anigmar The thing that died in me for DA2 was the serious denial that some had for it...EA still has that denial as does Bioware.Even now those folks will tell you that the "action was an improvement over DAO."
Yes...because spamming the attack button while your character flips around like a power ranger to the constantly spawning-from-nowhere mooks is totally an "improvement" and exactly how one should have treated Baldur's Gate's "Spiritual Successor".Hope Thief 4 does not suffer from the "dumb down". It's the trend though.
Okay, this is never good......
Why there hasn't yet been a Thief game this gen is beyond me.....such a great series, it just begs more to be done with it....Deus Ex too, I'm happy the did do Human Revolution though.....
All of the stealth action titles are becoming run of the mill action games or shooters....what ever happened to being rewarded for sneaking in undetected? It's so much better when the enemy never knew you were there than to have to fight like every guard in the place....
There was a recent brief comment on Thief 4 from studio boss Stephane D'Astous this week...
http://www.oxm.co.uk/42730/thief-4-needs-to-be-as-good-as-or-better-than-deus-ex-eidos-montreal/
@s_h_a_d_o Nice post. Yes, Deux Ex: HR's choices dealt with justice vs. the greater good. Thief needs to be different. Haven't played many of them, but it's more of a "pick your poison" kind of thing.
I remember I played the demo of Thief: Deadly Shadows on the original Xbox....3 times. I don't know why I never got around to buying the game, but damn it gave me a good impression. The atmosphere is fantastic, as with all the tools you can use.
@okassar This PC copy is on sale right now for $10 if you want it: http://www.amazon.ca/STHI3PUS00-Thief-3-Deadly-Shadows/dp/B0001AN1GY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339744931&sr=8-3
The Thief franchise is one of the absolutely best. If only I had the powers to ban mike987 for his comment.... :)
Nah, I don't think the game is in trouble. It's a good franchise and Squeenix has proven to be very compatible with Eidos. Why would they then cancel a perfectly good franchise in Thief? More likely major development has wrapped up and they don't need those senior guys anymore. Well, that's what I hope.
@Poodlejumper @Vojtass Hehe, it's very likely. Game is amazing. I'm playing Thief Gold atm (I bought it in GOG.com) and I have to say it's hard and very satisfing game. Levels are huge and lack of detailed map can be very, very painful for modern (and lazy) gamer.
@Vojtass dont know, didnt work that well on my pc at the time and when it did work i couldn't get into it
Eidos Montreal crafting the cutpurse Garrett's new adventure; release date, platforms, gameplay details still under wraps.
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