Last week it was reported by CVG that Eidos Montreal, the studio behind last year’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, are further delaying the release of the long awaited next entry in the Thief series. Thief 4, the website reports, will now be most likely released once the next generation Xbox (Durango?) is released late next year.
The game was originally announced in 2009; however, since then development has seen several key members of the team leave during development. Eidos Montreal are also currently advertising a position for level artist for the game on their website.
So far nothing has been said as to the nature of these departures and to their relation to Thief 4. Likewise nothing has been mentioned by Eidos as to whether the pushed back release has any relation to the new console hardware.
When it was originally announced, Eidos Montreal’s GM Stéphane D’Astous wrote that it would be “an incredibly ambitious project”. It’s a statement in keeping with the series’ past, which has been a true innovator in the stealth genre. The last game, Thief: Deadly Shadows, was released way back in 2004 to a good critical response, though there was some criticism that the game curtailed level design for a more approachable ‘console audience’. However, given Eidos Montreal’s work on Deus Ex: Human Revolution it’s exciting to see what they will do with Thief’s material. Whether their work itself will be effected by this further delay is of course yet to be seen but we will make sure to keep you updated on any further announcements.
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