Eidos Montreal Founder Bails Due To ‘Irreconcilable’ Differences With Square Enix

Published on: July 23, 2013 at 7:31 PM

Stephane D’Astous, the founder and general manager of Eidos Montreal, has resigned from his position at the company, Polygon reported earlier today, citing “irreconcilable” differences with the studio’s parent company, Square Enix.

“Since last year’s financial short-coming performance of Square Enix Europe, we (HQ London and GM Eidos Montreal) have had growing and divergent opinions on what needed to be done to correct the situation,” D’Astous said in a statement to the site.

“The lack of leadership, lack of courage and the lack of communication were so evident, that I wasn’t able to conduct my job correctly. I realized that our differences were irreconcilable, and that the best decision was unfortunately to part ways.”

Eidos Montreal is the studio behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution, 2011’s reboot of the classic cyberpunk-themed first-person shooter. The developer is currently working on Thief 4, another reboot of a classic franchise, and is suspected to be in development on a new Deus Ex game.

In a follow-up statement with Polygon, D’Astous went on to say that his decision to step down as GM of Eidos Montreal stemmed from Square Enix’s poor direction following the dire financial news from earlier this year.

Back in March, Square Enix reported that it expected a significant loss for its fiscal year, which came to a close on March 31. At the time, the company blamed the loss on the “underwhelming” performance of Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution.

Since then, the company has begun to restructure and plan to get itself out of the financial sinkhole that the company has found itself in. Part of the problem, D’Astous went on to tell Polygon, is that communication between Square Enix and its subsidiaries is less than ideal.

“Square Enix is in a tight spot because there are compromises that are made, investments that are made that should not have been and things that they didn’t invest in but should have,” he told the site, adding, “Communication is very lacking.”

D’Astous’ role at Eidos Montreal will reportedly be filled by David Anfossi, executive producer on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

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