Eidos Montreal, developer of the modern Deus Ex games, will focus more of its attention on online gaming from now on, it has announced. In a new "vision statement", studio head David Anfossi said that it would be "placing an added emphasis on the online experiences in our games". The developer is hiring new staff, including a lead multiplayer programmer, to support the move and reworking its DAWN engine to better cope with online gaming.

Director of online technology Sébastien Bessette said: "All of these efforts unify our teams towards one single goal, that being to deliver the best online gaming experience to our players."

So, what does that mean in practice? Well, we know that the Deus Ex series isn't dead yet and that folk at Square Enix, which owns Eidos Montreal, are already exploring options for the next installment. So, whatever comes next will presumably include some kind of online element. I'd be surprised if multiplayer wasn't a part of that.

But the next Deus Ex game won't be out for a while: Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said last month that it wasn't a top priority. "Some titles have to wait their turn," he said. Eidos Monteral is currently working on an Avengers title in partnership with Crystal Dynamics, so again, I'd expect that to feature online multiplayer.

It'd be sad if the new focus meant the studio dedicated less resources to single-player, because Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Human Revolution were both great immersive sims (although sales in the genre have cast doubt over its future).