During his opening keynote of the sixth annual Montreal International Game Summit, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada confirmed the importance of Eidos to the company’s new, globally minded strategy.

He said co-operation and competition between the company’s international development studios would “spur innovation and leverage cultural diversity” beginning with a potential direct collaboration between Square Enix and Eidos Montreal.

Deus Ex and Thief are two titles that are to be “reborn beautifully” gushed Wada after an equally effusive introduction from Stepháne D’Astous, GM of Eidos Montreal, before stating that the developer is scheduled to begin work on a third title, but that it was “still in discussion”.

“If we start this title, it will be the first development collaboration between Square Enix and Eidos,” Wada continued, “but we absolutely want our first title [of this sort] to be developed in Montreal.”

No more details were revealed—and Wada’s vague statement could be seen by the cynical as a sop to the local crowd—but we broached the topic of collaboration as part of a longer discussion with Wada and D’Astous after the keynote.

“It’s something we’re still just thinking about now,” Wada admitted, “but we’re in some very deep discussions. The project would require some very talented and creative people to step up to work on it, and we don’t want to go in half-cocked.”

“No matter what,” he said with a knowing glance to D’Astous, “I promise the experience we would create will not be disappointing. We’ll collect absolutely the best talent in Montreal.”

D’Astous offered his take on his CEO’s obvious interest in the Montreal studio, arguing humbly that Eidos Montreal’s had to work hard to receive such special attention.

“The Eidos Montreal studio as a whole has been continually pushing for as much integration with Square Enix as possible. We’ve always been incredibly interested in sharing knowledge, data and best practices between our developers, and so we’re absolutely thrilled to have this third, unknown project in discussion. We have a lot to talk about in terms of the form this project is going to take, but it’s already been very exciting.”