Eidos-Montréal

Eidos Interactive Corporation (trade name: Eidos-Montréal) is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal and part of Embracer Group. The studio was founded by Stéphane D'Astous in 2007 under SCi Entertainment. It became part of Square Enix Europe in 2009 and CDE Entertainment in 2022.

Eidos Interactive Corporation
Eidos-Montréal
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded26 November 2007 (2007-11-26)
FounderStéphane D'Astous
Headquarters
Montreal, Quebec
,
Canada
Key people
Products
Number of employees
481[1] (2022)
Parent
Websiteeidosmontreal.com

History

Eidos Interactive announced plans to open a Montreal-based subsidiary studio in February 2007.[2] Eidos Interactive Corp. was incorporated in March 2007.[3] Eidos-Montréal formally opened with general manager Stéphane D'Astous on 26 November 2007.[4] According to D'Astous, unlike other video game development studios, Eidos-Montréal's development cycle as characterized by smaller teams (totalling to 350) working over a longer period.[5]

The same year as its founding, the studio announced to work on a Deus Ex project.[6] In May 2009, the studio announced to work on the fourth installment of the Thief series.[7] D'Astous resigned from Eidos-Montréal on 19 July 2013, citing irreconcilable differences with parent company Square Enix.[8] In an 2022 interview, he retroactively called Eidos group a "trainwreck in slow motion", blaming London and Japan headquarters for failing to utilize the full potential of the studios.[9] On 4 March 2014, Square Enix announced that 27 employees were laid off from Eidos-Montréal.[10]

On January 26, 2017, Square Enix announced a partnership with Marvel Entertainment to create multiple video games based on Marvel properties, the first of which was announced as Avengers, based on the comics of the same name, which would be developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.[11] In May 2018, the studio had over 500 employees.[12] In April 2018, YouTube journalist George Weidman (Super Bunnyhop) reported on a cancelled video game codenamed "Fantasy Project W" that was in development in 2012. Anfossi said to PCGamesN in May that he unable to comment; he found the video "very well done" and "very funny to watch" and explained that, within the video game industry, projects are often started but eventually cancelled.[13] In 2019, Eidos-Shanghai became part of Eidos-Montréal, a studio established in 2008 to handle outsourcing for Eidos.[14][15]

In June 2020, Square Enix announced new research and development studio Eidos-Sherbrooke, led by Julien Bouvrais. It was envisioned to take advantage of the nearby Université de Sherbrooke and Bishop's University and bring in new computing technology from these schools into their games. It was said to initially operate remotely, with plans move to a permanent location in southern Quebec in 2021 and to grow from 20 to 100 staff.[16] On June 13, 2021, during a panel for E3 2021, it was announced that the company would be developing a game based on Guardians of the Galaxy.[17]

In May 2022, Square Enix reached an agreement with Embracer Group to purchase the studio and other assets of Square Enix Europe.[18] During the announcement of this acquisition, it was revealed that Eidos had several projects in development, all using Unreal Engine 5.[19] On 20 May 2022, Embracer Group (before the acquisition was complete) expressed interest in sequels, remakes and remasters in established franchises of the studio such as Deus Ex and Thief.[20] The acquisition was completed on August 26, 2022, with the assets being held under CDE Entertainment.[21] In November 2022, Eidos-Shanghai was detached from Eidos-Montréal and moved to Gearbox Entertainment, another Embracer Group company, as Gearbox Studio Shanghai.[22]

Technology

On December 4, 2014, Eidos revealed their proprietary technology called Dawn Engine which was to be used in future Deus Ex projects, first (and only one utilizing Dawn) of which was later revealed to be Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.[23] It is based on a heavily modified version of IO Interactive's Glacier 2, which has its roots in Hitman: Absolution.[24] The engine was created after developers at Eidos-Montréal "found that [their] creative vision was somehow limited" by relying on existing engines.[25][26] The graphics engine has been "almost completely" rewritten. This was done to "fully leverage the power offered by the PC and [eighth-gen] consoles". The creation of Dawn was challenging even for Eidos-Montréal's most experienced staff.[27] The engine was later used for 2021's Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.[28]

Dawn Engine features improved conversation system and cutscenes compared to Glacier 2. Built on an "entity system", Dawn allows designers to create new behaviours without the assistance of programmers.[29] Hair technology is an improved version of AMD's TressFX,[30] which has been developed by the in-house research and development team Labs. Dawn features systems for volumetric lighting and air density, as well as support for dense indoor and outdoor areas, and many dynamic objects. Not all objects are rendered at the same time, the engine makes use of Umbra occlusion culling.[31] With Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, ray tracing and DLSS support was added,[32] as well as working in-game mirrors.

Eidos-Montréal subsequently abandoned work with the Dawn Engine after 2022, adopting Unreal Engine 5 for their ongoing work to "focus on content" rather than technical hurdles of developing a game and its engine simultaneously.[33][34] With the foundation of Eidos-Sherbrooke, research and development work was mostly offloaded to that studio including Eidos-Labs department.[35]

Games developed
Year Title Platform(s) Notes
2011 Deus Ex: Human Revolution Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360
2014 Thief Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
2016 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2017 Deus Ex: Breach Microsoft Windows
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – VR Experience
2018 Shadow of the Tomb Raider Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia Crystal Dynamics supported development
2020 Marvel's Avengers Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia Additional work
2021 Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch (via cloud), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Awards

Eidos-Montréal was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work by GamesIndustry.biz,[36] and Montréal's Top Employers by Canada's Top 100 Employers competition.[37]

References
  1. "Embracer Group acquires Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montréal" (PDF). Embracer Group. 2 May 2022. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 September 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  2. Carless, Simon (15 February 2007). "Eidos Sets Up Development Arm In Montreal". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. "Corporate Data" (PDF). Square Enix Holdings Company Limited. 31 March 2021.
  4. French, Michael (26 November 2007). "Eidos Montreal officially opens". Develop. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  5. Dobson, Jason (19 February 2007). "Q&A: Stephane D'Astous On Eidos Montreal's Next-Gen Plans". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  6. Develop (30 November 2007). "Q&A: Stephane D'Astous, Eidos Montreal". Develop. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  7. Crecente, Brian (11 May 2009). "Thief 4: It's Official". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. Ray Corriea, Alexa (23 July 2013). "Eidos Montreal GM resigns, cites 'lack of courage' at Square Enix". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  9. "Square Enix's Western studios were a "train wreck in slow motion"". GamesIndustry.biz. 26 July 2022. Archived from the original on 26 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  10. Schreier, Jason (4 March 2014). "Big Layoffs At Thief Developer Eidos Montreal". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  11. Frank, Allegra (26 January 2017). "Square Enix teams up with Marvel for The Avengers project". Polygon. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  12. Dring, Christopher (11 May 2018). "Square Enix teams up with Marvel for The Avengers project". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  13. Capel, Chris J (11 May 2018). "Eidos Montreal head responds to Final Fantasy Project W rumours". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  14. Eidos-Montréal 15th Anniversary, archived from the original on 11 April 2022, retrieved 11 April 2022
  15. Lee, James (22 September 2008). "Eidos opens Shanghai Office". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  16. Dealessandri, Marie (16 June 2020). "Square Enix announces new Eidos-Sherbrooke studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  17. "Save the Universe (Probably) with 'Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy'". Marvel Entertainment. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  18. "Square Enix Selling Tomb Raider, Deus Ex & Thief Studios (And The Games As Well)". Yahoo Finance. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  19. Strickland, Derek (2 May 2022). "Eidos Montreal has multiple games in development using Unreal Engine 5". TweakTown. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  20. Ivan, Tom (20 May 2022). "Embracer sees 'great potential' in Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal sequels, remakes and remasters". VGC. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  21. "Embracer Group completes acquisition of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal amongst other assets" (Press release). Embracer Group. 26 August 2022. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  22. Sinclair, Brendan (15 November 2022). "Eidos Shanghai becomes Gearbox Shanghai". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  23. Savage, Phil (4 December 2014). "Eidos introduce the engine behind the upcoming Deus Ex". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  24. "Eidos Montreal shows off the Dawn Engine, the "cornerstone" of Deus Ex Universe". PCGamesN. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  25. "Eidos announces its next-gen game engine: the Dawn Engine". HEXUS. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  26. OXM Staff (21 April 2015). "Designing Deus Ex's futuristic Dawn Engine". gamesradar. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  27. "How the Dawn Engine is powering the next wave of Deus Ex games". MCV. 11 February 2015. ISSN 1469-4832. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  28. "Eidos Confirms Guardians Of The Galaxy And Avengers Use Different Engines". TheGamer. 27 September 2021. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  29. "How the Dawn Engine is powering the next wave of Deus Ex games". MCV. 11 February 2015. ISSN 1469-4832. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  30. Paras, Archie (17 March 2015). "Dawn Engine – First Slide Showcasing AMD's TressFX 3.0". Wccftech. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  31. "Improving Geometry Culling for 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' (presented by Umbra)". www.gdcvault.com. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  32. "Guardians of the Galaxy's RT upgrade adds extra shine to a brilliant game". Eurogamer.net. 18 December 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  33. Embracer Group enters into an agreement to acquire Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, and Square Enix Montréal, archived from the original on 12 June 2022, retrieved 18 May 2022
  34. Palumbo, Alessio (2 May 2022). "Eidos Montréal Has Adopted Unreal Engine 5 Over In-House Tools". Wccftech. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  35. "WorldGen: Painting the world, one layer at a time". Eidos-Sherbrooke. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  36. Dring, Christopher (8 November 2021). "Revealed: Just who are the best games companies to work for in Canada?". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  37. "Top Employer: Eidos Interactive Corporation". reviews.canadastop100.com. Mediacorp Inc. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
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