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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Following the launch of Prey in 2017, Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio left the company he created all the way back in 1999. Prey was an exceptional immersive sim, but it didn't make the kind of splash that Bethesda wanted, which in turn inspired some big changes in Arkane's direction. Talking to Jeremy Peel in a wide-ranging interview, Colantonio explains that he didn't want to make the type of games that Bethesda mandated.

"All I can tell you is that part of the reason why I left Bethesda was that they did not want to do the kind of games that we wanted to make," Colantonio says. He likens Arkane's approach to studios like Larian and FromSoftware: "Those are people that have been doing, over and over, the thing they know exactly how to do, until it hits super hard. So to me, that's what Arkane had to do."

Colantonio wanted to keep building on what Arkane had achieved with Dishonored and Prey, but due to disappointing sales, Bethesda "decided that was not part of the strategy anymore".

Bethesda wanted more live service games, and while that was partially walked back after the Microsoft acquisition, the wheels were already in motion—the wheels that would produce Redfall, Arkane Austin's less than well-received vampire-themed FPS.

Since Colantonio had already left Arkane, he can't pinpoint exactly how things went wrong, but there are likely many reasons.

"There's so many things that can influence [a game]," he says. "Someone in management, budget reductions, someone in marketing, a new change of direction in general about the market, you lost one of your main developers. There are so many things that can come into play."

"We’re thankful for the millions of players who have joined us," it read. "From everyone at Arkane Austin, thank you for playing our games and loving our worlds, it’s been an honor to deliver these experiences to you."

"I don't know everything, but I know these are very, very good people," says Colantonio. "And I actually personally liked the game. I played after the patches. I was waiting, because I could tell everybody was flared up. And yes, of course, it's not like what you necessarily expect from Arkane but it was not what they were set up to do. So it was a bit of a catch 22 for Harvey [Smith] and the team there."

Arkane's founder left because Bethesda 'did not want to do the kind of games that we wanted to make', and that's how it ended up with Redfall

Redfall was a significant departure for Arkane, and culminated in the closure of the Arkane Austin studio.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[adamsapple]

Sucks that Bethesda chose to chase trends rather than foster creativity.

Prey 2017 is one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[GymWolf]

Dishonored 3 died because bethesda is composed by fucking idiots.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Prey 2017 was well received and loved by gamers.

“Hmmm well that’s cool. What if we made a game about woke vampires?”

 

[Crayon]

Nice to be able to walk away. He earned it, but it's a nice place to be.

 

[StereoVsn]

Dishonored 3 died because bethesda is composed by fucking idiots.

Yep, and that’s how we got Redfall and Starfield.

 

[LectureMaster]

Dishonored is my favorite game of all time.

I think he mentioned it multiple times, he left because he didn't want to work in a studio that's 300+ large but can't produce any innovative ideas.

Weird West was very enjoyable for me, it carries some essence of dishonored games despite being completely different genre.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Shame too as Arkane were great at making those kinds of games. Bethesda are just trend chasing cunts that have no direction. BGS are a massive waste of fucking air too.

 

[HogIsland]

I don't think an Arkane type immersive sim with online multiplayer is a bad idea. Deathloop has an online component that suits their style pretty well. Red Fall is just fundamentally bad, and uninspired. It clearly launched unfinished. It sucks as an immersive sim, and as an fps.

 

[JayK47]

Bethesda is toast. Arkane made some really great games and it looks like another case of their best work is behind them.

 

[RCX]

He's a legend for Prey and Dishonored.

He's also a legend for being able to walk away from something he created.

My wait for the next great immersive sim seems like it's going to take a long time.

Rocksteady, Bioware, Bungie. The list gets longer and longer. Studios aren't forever, they only exist as long as tbe founders are there and they're engaged with their work. There's exceptions for sure, Id for example, but it sure seems to be the case for the vast majority.

 

[Represent.]

There isn’t a single forward thinking, creative thinking person in charge at MS/Bethesda. They will continue to chase trends and make generic trash until the talent leaves one by one

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[Mr Moose]

Following the launch of Prey in 2017, Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio left the company he created all the way back in 1999.

My dumbass read this 3 times, thinking he'd left in 1999.

 

[Lorianus]

Immersive sims are great games but sadly almost all of them never reach sales expectations and are i guess really expensive to make.

 

[Laptop1991]

Yep, i support him, Bethesda hasn't been making the games their main fans have wanted for a long time, they want their online cash cow money. looking forward to Raphael's new game, i love his Dishonored games and Prey.

 

[Punished Miku]

Thought this was obvious. Zenimax and or Bethesda made them chase more mainstream game design. Luckily, MS at least let them patch out the microtransactions, make it single player, give it an additional year of development, and patch it offline. Redfall was still pretty fun in the end, and this guy agrees. Turned out much better than Factions 2. At least people can play it, and it's pretty fun. The negativity was massively exaggerated to the point that it killed the whole studio.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I love how people downplay Xbox involvment into Arkane's downfall.

They could've easily cancel Redfall and retool the team to something more fitting. But alas, now Arkane is just one team that is making a game based on a failed (considering recent news) Disney IP. A ghoul of it's former creativity and talent to create new evoking and 100% original worlds.

A fate worse than death. I prey (sorry) that Wolfeye Studios' new game will somehow resurrect the spirit of old Arkane.

 

[Beechos]

As much as I love your games they just didn't sell. If it wasn't for gamepass I prob wouldve never played an arkane game because of the way they looked. The goofy styled cartoony graphics in all your games are prob the biggest reason why they have failed to reach mass appeal.

 

[Danteyke223]

He's a legend for Prey and Dishonored.

He's also a legend for being able to walk away from something he created.

My wait for the next great immersive sim seems like it's going to take a long time.

Rocksteady, Bioware, Bungie. The list gets longer and longer. Studios aren't forever, they only exist as long as tbe founders are there and they're engaged with their work. There's exceptions for sure, Id for example, but it sure seems to be the case for the vast majority.

I remember him crying (in a really sad way) over the fact that one of the reviewers gave the game a 6/10 because of one bug where the save got corrupted. He also was upset how a lot of reviewers just didnt get the game

 

[Plague Doctor]

There was a massive talent and brain drain in western AAA from 2017 up until the pandemic.

We are still seeing the fallout from it.

They wanted to chase bizarro trends and then bloat the scope and budget.

This is what happens when you kneecap institutional knowledge and experience, when there is no one left to pass down the torch.

 

[Wolves hunt in packs]

Sad that one bad game ruins a studio that made several great games.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Hopefully Indiana Jones will be able to replicate some of Dishonoured.

 

[RCX]

I remember him crying (in a really sad way) over the fact that one of the reviewers gave the game a 6/10 because of one bug where the save got corrupted. He also was upset how a lot of reviewers just didnt get the game

In fairness I didn't gel with it first time out. I had very little experience of immersive sims and was trying to play it like a shooter. I came back to it randomly over a year later and it all fell into place.

One of my top 10s all time now.

 

[A2una1]

As much as I love your games they just didn't sell. If it wasn't for gamepass I prob wouldve never played an arkane game because of the way they looked. The goofy styled cartoony graphics in all your games are prob the biggest reason why they have failed to reach mass appeal.

And as much as I like their games, up to deathloop the controlls feel a lot more sluggish than in other fps games runing at the same frames per second.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Sucks that Bethesda chose to chase trends rather than foster creativity.

Prey 2017 is one of my favorite games of all time.

Same. Prey is a remarkable game and has some of the best 3D level design ever put down as far as I'm concerned.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Same. Prey is a remarkable game and has some of the best 3D level design ever put down as far as I'm concerned.

It's simply a pinaccle of immersive sims despite tech problems on consoles.

 

[Wildebeest]

Weird West wasn't bad at all. It had a sort of original Fallout sort of feeling, just lacking in art assets compared to expectations today. The biggest problem was that the real time combat was way too fast and hectic for the awkward controls it had.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

For things like this, the dismissal of true talent, I cheer on the studio debacles happening right now. They deserve everything bad coming to them.

 

[adamsapple]

It's simply a pinaccle of immersive sims despite tech problems on consoles.

Wasn't the best on PS4/XBO when it launched but it runs remarkably good in BC. 1440p/60fps, pretty good for a Cryengine game even now, on console.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

And as much as I like their games, up to deathloop the controlls feel a lot more sluggish than in other fps games runing at the same frames per second.

This is an absolutely valid criticism of Arkane games in general. Their controls and game feel in general is relatively stiff and...boxy. I've played Prey and all Dishonored games a lot and they all feel slightly off-putting at first due to that.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Wasn't the best on PS4/XBO when it launched but it runs remarkably good in BC. 1440p/60fps, pretty good for a Cryengine game even now, on console.

I play Arkane games on PC since Arx Fatalis but dipped on PS4 simply to support my favorite team and input lag was unbearable. It was fixed later tho.

 

[Wildebeest]

Sad that Pete Hines ruins a studio that made several great games.

Fixed.

 

[Toots]

Colantonio is an OG just like Michel Ancel, if they tell you you're doing something wrong you should listen to them and set things right.

 

[Flabagast]

Guy is a fucking legend, and that's a shame what Bethesda did.

I think what he said about Larian and studios keeping iterating on their in-house specific formula ending breaking through in a massive way once they achieve the perfect mix is very right. It was true for From, true for CDPR, true for Larian, and many others

 

[Judge Magister]

Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah, Dishonored and Prey were great.

I didn't like Deathloop, they took Prey Mooncrash DLC idea and made a game.

 

[kyussman]

In a perfect world Dishonored would have been huge,they crafted an interesting world and lore,it could have produced games for years.Shame.

 

[StueyDuck]

I understand wanting to break out of your comfort zone. But the corpos mandating it is a different story.

I'm just sad we aren't going to get a prey 2.

 

[Umbral]

I always suspected that was the case. Colantonio seemed like a real one. He did split off and make another immersive sim with his new company. An im-sim with a different perspective but Weird West was interesting. Then they announced their new game, which is exactly what I would have expected from Arkane of old. I’m sure Arkane Austin was filled with quality people but the typical corporate trend chasing and greed killed an amazing studio. I’m hoping Arkane Lyon can carry the torch forward along with Wolf Eye.

Prey was an absolute gem of a game.

Edit: Why would you purchase a studio known for making a very specific genre of games and then tell them you want them to make something else? S-tier morons over at MS/Bethesda. Fucking suits, every time.

 

[Senua]

Such a shame

 

[Wolves hunt in packs]

Wasn't the best on PS4/XBO when it launched but it runs remarkably good in BC. 1440p/60fps, pretty good for a Cryengine game even now, on console.

Only on XSX, thanks to FPS Boost, was never officially patched so PS5 is out of luck.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

I always suspected that was the case. Colantonio seemed like a real one. He did split off and make another immersive sim with his new company. An im-sim with a different perspective but Weird West was interesting. Then they announced their new game, which is exactly what I would have expected from Arkane of old. I’m sure Arkane Austin was filled with quality people but the typical corporate trend chasing and greed killed an amazing studio. I’m hoping Arkane Lyon can carry the torch forward along with Wolf Eye.

Prey was an absolute gem of a game.

Edit: Why would you purchase a studio known for making a very specific genre of games and then tell them you want them to make something else? S-tier morons over at MS/Bethesda. Fucking suits, every time.

It's like that thing where major labels sign underground bands, they do weird underground band shit and then the label freaks out and forces them contractually to use some awful producer.

 

[nikolino840]

I love how people downplay Xbox involvment into Arkane's downfall.

They could've easily cancel Redfall and retool the team to something more fitting. But alas, now Arkane is just one team that is making a game based on a failed (considering recent news) Disney IP. A ghoul of it's former creativity and talent to create new evoking and 100% original worlds.

A fate worse than death. I prey (sorry) that Wolfeye Studios' new game will somehow resurrect the spirit of old Arkane.

Not really... MS cancelled the ps5 version of redfall

 

[Alebrije]

So, is this guy working on a game now? Would be interesting to know about it.

 

[Kurotri]

So, is this guy working on a game now? Would be interesting to know about it.

He actually does!

News - Wolfeye Studios (Arkane Founder New RPG) shares first look at in-development retro sci-fi first-person action RPG

via Eurogamer As teased earlier this week, Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio has today unveiled the first details of his next game at WolfEye Studios. While the game's name is still under wraps, this new project is a first-person action RPG that's set in an alternate America in the 1900s...

www.neogaf.com

Regarding the OP, this is just another case of veteran developers leaving and starting up their own studios. There's a shitload of them. The guy behind Deux Ex Humankind Revolution and Mankind Divided is working on Hell is Us, there's the creative director of Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 with a bunch of ex CDPR people working on a new dark fantasy RPG called Dawnwalker at Revel Wolves (will probably be announced at TGS this year, just my own speculation), the main guy behind Just Cause and even the creator of Assassin's Creed and it goes on and on.

Unfortunately with most of them they still haven't released anything, some even got shutdown without releasing anything. Others just released not so well-received games (like the guys behind Dead Space releasing Callisto Protocol) but it's absolutely a trend. I'm very interested in this development and I hope they succeed, western gaming needs more of these studios and less of these big ones that have been doing nothing but disappoint over the last years, most recently Ubisoft and Bethesda.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Dishonored 3 died because bethesda is composed by fucking idiots.

Dishonored 3 died because Dishonored 2 floundered.

 

[GymWolf]

Dishonored 3 died because Dishonored 2 floundered.

And i guess the solution was making redfall uh?! Because that one flew out of the shelfs...

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

And i guess the solution was making redfall uh?! Because that one flew out of the shelfs...

The solution was to try something different. Risk taking is better than certain death. In this case, the risk flopped. Shouldn't be surprising to anyone.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Prey 2017 was well received and loved by gamers.

“Hmmm well that’s cool. What if we made a game about woke vampires?”

Prey 2017 is good even now, Deathloop is how I discovered Prey 2017 and I’ll never forget Talos.

 

[Laptop1991]

Dishonored 2 sold poorly because of the state of the PC port, The game was great but ran like crap on PC, Harvey Smith came out and had to apologise for it, it was terrible i played it on release, great actual game though.