In light of the recent lay-offs at Eidos Montreal, a new report has now indicated that, once upon a time, the studio was working on a reboot of the seminal Legacy of Kain franchise. The report comes courtesy of Insider Gaming, who were able to get a look at some of the CVs of past employees from the studio. These CVs noted work on a “dark fantasy ARPG” that would have served as the revival of an established IP about vampires.
Other details about this project included an emphasis on melee-centric combat, as well as parkour for exploration. While the CVs haven’t outright named this project, Insider Gaming’s report confirms that the project was indeed a reboot of Legacy of Kain. It is also worth noting that the reboot’s development wasn’t really affected by the recent lay-offs. Rather, it had been cancelled several years ago, shortly after the studio was acquired by Embracer Group.
The report also notes that the reboot wasn’t particularly far into development, with only it only having been developed for a single year before its cancellation. Since then, the IP has been handed to Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, and the fate of the IP since then is currently unknown.
As for the current state of Eidos Montreal, the studio is reportedly working on a major project of its own, with development on it having started all the way back in 2019. The project has been noted as having “hundreds of millions of dollars” invested into it, and while the report indicates that it won’t end up recouping these costs, the investments are considered major enough to not cancel the project outright.
The recent lay-offs at Eidos Montreal have affected an unknown number of employees at the studio. It largely came to light thanks to employees like former gameplay director Samuel Daher confirming the fact through posts on social media. “Hey there! Was working at Eidos, loved it and would have stayed, but times are difficult,” posted Daher. “I’m eager to find a new professional home to drive design on new productions.”
However, this was only the second round of lay-offs to have hit Eidos Montreal this year. Back in April, the studio had announced that it was letting go of 75 of its employees. These lay-offs were described at the time as having happened because it couldn’t find spots for the employees in other development teams across the studio.
“Today, we informed our studio staff that we are going to let go up to 75 valuable members, as one of our mandates is coming to an end,” announced the studio earlier this year. “It is not a reflection of their dedication or skills, but unfortunately, we don’t have the capacity to entirely reallocate them to our other ongoing projects and services.”
“These very talented, highly experienced experts are going to enter the employment market, and we are working to support them through this transition.”
Eidos Montreal has had a rocky period of time for a few years now, with its last major title being Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Since then, the company has been working as a support studio on projects like the upcoming Fable and Grounded 2.
