In a move that will come as a pretty big surprise to many, sources are telling us (confirming what we are now seeing elsewhere) that the decision has been made for Thief 4 to go ahead and skip release for the current generation of consoles. What that means is no Thief 4 for either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

According to the whispers we hear, while the game was originally targeted for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the move toward re-working and enhancing the title for release on the next generation of consoles is a bit surprising. Our sources tell us that the decision was made because the project is going to run later than they would like, and this is the better option.

While rumors have suggested before that a designer working on the title had already created the game’s final level, the game has continued to be shrouded in secrecy, beyond a few casual references by Square Enix and Eidos that they would like to revisit the Thief franchise at some point. A number of rumors have suggested that the game has been in development for over four years, but we have never been able to validate more than two years that the project has been actively worked on.

What makes the decision even more interesting is that sources tell us that the title will not be ready till at least late 2013 for release, and if true, it could explain the decision to scratch releases for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The changes, however, will not affect the release of Thief 4 for the PC, which is now believed to be the lead platform for development, according to our sources. If true, the game could look quite similar to the PC release of the game on the next generation of console systems.

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