Deus Ex Won’t Have Multiplayer Unless It’s ‘The Topic of the Game Itself’

If Deus Ex were to ever have a multiplayer portion incorporated into a future title in the series, it would need to be in service of the game’s narrative, gameplay director Patrick Fortier said in an interview with Official Xbox Magazine.

Fortier used Mass Effect 3’s addition of multiplayer to compare how Eidos Montreal would ever add an online component to a Deus Ex title.

"Mass effect 3’s multiplayer is a very good experience," Fortier said. "It’s proof that it can be done. I’m not saying that we can’t do it, but you know [BioWare is] in the fourth iteration [of its game] now, almost, whereas we’re only on the second of ours. There’s a lot of learning we need to go through! In the future, I think if we were to go in that direction it would have to be the topic of the game itself. The way we’re applying the formula, in the sense of the narrative component [impacting] all across the different disciplines, I think it would have to be that it makes sense story-wise."

While Eidos Montreal is outsourcing the PC port of Mankind Divided, as they did with the PC port of 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the idea of outsourcing a multiplayer mode doesn’t sit well with Fortier.

"I don’t think it’s something that can be tacked on and supported sufficiently well through a third party developer, out of the office," Fortier said. "It has to be fundamental right from day one that you’re trying to do that. You have to have the right idea and the right vehicle." 

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2016. Check out the 25-minute gameplay demo to get a taste of what’s to come in the Deus Ex franchise.