As we told you late last week, Eidos has now officially announced that Thief 4 is now in the very early stages of development. While there are no specific details yet, Eidos Montreal will be handling the development of the title and is currently assembling a team of experienced industry veteran developers to work on the project.

Eidos is already ramping up development for the latest chapter in the Thief 4 franchise, but don’t expect it to arrive this year. While the company was very short on specifics, we believe that it will arrive on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and perhaps the PC platform in late 2010 or early 2011. Currently, Eidos Montreal is working on Deus Ex 3 and our sources tell us that it will arrive first.

The Thief franchise has a very rich legacy and previous versions in the series have won many awards and gamers have long waited for another chapter in the Thief saga. It will be a bit of a wait, but it could be well worth it.