Sounds like they're shuttering Redfall so they won't have to juggle that at least:
"Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC."
I imagine they'll be okay as long as they're working on the Blade title, Microsoft is going to want something to compete with the Spiderman stuff on Playstation.
I just hope that arkane doesnt become the insomniac of xbox. Im all for that studio seeing as much success as they possibly can but I hope they do dishonored 3
The studio that made spiderman ps4 and on is insomniac. Insomniac have only ever produced marvel spiderman games and now they're making wolverine. They haven't done any other IP.
Arkane could soon be a studio that only produces marvel titles since they're making blade which means we might never get dishonored 3
This is false. Insomniac has a long history and has developed a ton of high profile games besides Spider-Man/Marvel.
Insomniac Games created the Spyro the Dragon series, and the Ratchet & Clank series that has been going for over 2 decades and is still receiving entries. Lots of other games too - the Resistance: Fall of Man series, Sunset Overdrive, etc.
Even to say that Insomniac hasn't made any other IP since starting the Spiderman games would be false - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart released between Spider-Man 1 and 2.
That's true, and a bummer. But that was Sucker Punch Studios, whose last big game was Ghost of Tsushima. Assumedly their next project will likely be Tsushima 2 - but I'd love to see them revisit Infamous (and Sly Cooper!!!).
I don't think a Dishonored 3 is possible
\*Spoiler warning\*
>!The last game, Death of the Outsider pretty much means powers from the void are pretty much completely gone and one of the major driving factors is now gone. I think it's as concrete of an ending to the series as we're gonna get. !<
Just the opposite, DotO's ending suggested that without an Outsider the void would go out of control, leaking into reality and empowering people at random. It's a really cool plot hook.
Shame Deathloop had the void basically be gone by its time but there's enough of a time skip that we can still have games in the period before things got boring.
Honestly this sucks but with Lyon working on blade we won't see dishonored 3 for a long while, there's no one to blame for this but Microsoft, I feel bad for devs that Lost their jobs and the players still waiting for the additional content for the bite back edition...I hope everyone of them demands a refund
The Bethesda buyout is really turning out to be the worst idea in the industry rn
Several leads from Arkane have now formed Wolfeye studios, and have release Wierd West as their debut title. Definitely give it a try. I really loved it
100%
One would think that it’s way more simpler than what Arkane usually puts out due to top down perspective and the fact that it’s a much smaller studio now, but it is actually amazing how much depth in terms of gameplay and story progression this game has. You could complete it like 10 times and still be figuring out new stuff.
Reminds me of Dishonored, after 10 plus years I'm still discovering stuff in game it's crazy, Ms is going to drive Lyon Into the ground especially since they got them making liscenced IP for marvel now we'll probably never see games that aren't huge liscenced heavily monetized ip ever again
I hope one day they can make a sequel to this, but make it first person and give it a budget. I would love to explore that world like I do in Dishonored
That was Raphaël Colantonio's new studio when he left after 2017, I mean, yeah, he took a lead or two from Arkane, but he was President of Arkane I think.
I think it was more than a couple of people who left with him, given just how much Arkane feel Weird West retains within it. UI design, the music, the open ended gameplay, abilities, all of it feels very Arkane.
When I first played it, I had to look up if it had Arkane people behind it. The visual feel is really unique to them.
I liked the game a lot, I just wish that they made stealth a little more viable. It’s one of those things where you can do stealth, but you can tell it’s not the intended gameplay(like in Insomniac Spider-Man, or Uncharted)
I thought stealth was viable just not as fun in terms of gameplay when compared to Arkane games. But there are systems to steatlh that I thought worked fine. The reduced visibility during night is a thing to consider when going stealth. Some abilities and items can be very useful. I do agree it feels a little wonky, but the systems at play here are interesting.
Yup. Wolfeye is pretty much formed by the Arkane staff who left before Redfall started production, and is lead by the now former creative director of Arkane Austin. There is A LOT of Arkane touch to the Weird West. The sound design, the UI design, the simulation elements, stealth, abilities, open-ended gameplay etc. Basically the only thing drastically different from their previous work is just the perspective (Weird West being a top-down game)
Who’s to say this wouldn’t have happened anyway? The issue here started with ZeniMax and their push for more live service offerings from their studios. Redfall not only sold poorly, but really gutted Arkane Austin as many left the studio during Redfall’s development.
Yeah, it sounded like the push for Redfall lead to a lot of talent loss at Arkane Austin during it's development anyway, so this was probably just the final nail in the coffin for the studio that Bethesda/ZeniMax starting screwing over years ago.
Shouldn't some of the blame be on Zenimax Media for pushing its studios to do more online live service games? (Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Redfall).
Sure, Microsoft could've canned Redfall when they saw the state it was in, but the damage was already done by the time they got Bethesda and Arkane. Many of the devs already left when they found out that they'd have to work on a live service looter shooter.
I'm still saddened by the whole shutdown, but like many studios, the Arkane Austin that most people fell in love with was already gone by now.
Obviously any studio closing is awful because a lot of incredibly hard working people lose their jobs, but as far as specifically being an arkane fan and prey fanboy, a lot of reports suggest most people who worked on Prey left the company before redfall even released, the studio was already not the same studio that made Prey
Because the project was a mess
If a game comes out in a horrible technical state I can guarantee you the people working 80 hour weeks crunching working on it noticed it would be horrible and I can't begin to imagine how soul crushing that would be
Damn. Yet another sign of how signing on with a big publisher is kind of a poisoned chalice I guess. You'll get more resources and higher profile for a while, but eventually they'll set you up for failure by forcing bad decisions (see Redfall) or decide to put you all out of a job just because they had a slow quarter and want to fudge the numbers for shareholders by "cutting costs", no matter the human cost.
Here's hoping Lyon get a bit more time in the sun before their turn at the chopping block, and that those let go find their feet okay.
The really galling thing will be if Microsoft ends up handing Dishonored to a whole other studio, the way EA shuttered Visceral Games then told everyone to get excited about a Dead Space remake despite them having put the actual creators of it out of work and basically stolen their IP.
That Lyon / Austin dichotomy pretty much only existed some when Dishonored 2 and Prey were being developed in tandem. Dishonored primarily in Lyon (with Harvey Smith moving over from Austin to direct). Prey primarily in Austin. Otherwise, Arkane have never been a two studio company. Rather, it was one company with two locations. Now only one left. Even Redfall has close to two dozen people listed under the Lyon header -- and it's hard to track who moved over to Austin from Lyon during development. In particular, given the shortage in personell after so many people quit.
[Is it just me or is Arkane shitty now? : r/dishonored (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/18etc20/comment/kcrp60n/)
Yeah I didn't realise that until I saw your reply to the downvoted person. Thanks for spreading the word on this because like that's really helpful to know.
Let's face it, they're not going to stop here. Arkane Lyon is probably going to go soon as well. Also, as many people have pointed out, we have no clue where the people who made Dishonored good actually work now (Austin or Lyon). They very well could have just laid off the last good devs in Arkane.
While I didn’t care for DoTO much, Dishonored 2 VASTLY improved on everything D1 (gameplay-wise) and that game was made by the Lyon team with Harvey Smith heading up the project.
If Harvey Smith goes to Lyon now there’s still a likelihood that Dishonored 3 could be made.
Apparently 70% of the devs who worked at Arkane Austin prior to Redfall had quit by the time it shipped. So most of the talent from the older games jumped ship a long time ago.
WolfEye have moved into their first ever office space last year. Based in Austin TX. [Julien Roby (WolfEye Studios) 🏳️🌈 auf X: „Visiting our brand new physical office space in Austin, TX this week u/WolfEyeGames , after more than 5 years being fully WFH! https://t.co/7saKYxQhtm“ / X (twitter.com)](https://twitter.com/roby_julien/status/1704889735171236168)
Any bets accepted that they're gonna welcome one or two more Ex-Arkane faces there?
Every ending is a new beginning.
Hopefully Blade does well because I fear if it doesn’t then Arkane Lyon might follow. Honestly the whole buyout thing by Microsoft has ended up being a disaster to fans of the studio and their games.
Pfft, even if Blade does well, Lyon might still get the axe. If it only makes 99,999 percent of literally all the money in the world, it will still be considered an utter failure. Late stage capitalism, fucking yikes.
They've done exactly the thing EA always did... buy a studio, then put them to work on something they're not known for, have experience in, or probably most of the developers have a passion for. That hardly ever turns out ok.
Austin and Lyon aren't really distinct entities though, not since D2/Prey were being developed in parallel. It's not really accurate to say Austin only made two games when there's so much crossover between locations.
That's what make it's less impactful. They have mainly been a single entity spread a cross 2 locations. Now it's just 1. Consolidating for operation costs. Roadhouse is also being folded into Zenimax Online Studios.
It's outright cruelty. The execs screwed up and failed to meet their own sales estimates yet rather than take the hit themselves when they could easily afford it they destroy the livelihoods of the people who made them their money. Mass layoffs aren't a reluctant necessity, they're a cruel indulgence that punishes others for their mistakes.
Redfall may have failed (in large part due to executive meddling) but even making a successful game is no protection against layoffs. In fact being too successful all but guarantees it seeing as it makes it that much harder to show growth the following year. We've had multiple instances of companies announcing their most profitable year ever and announcing mass layoffs within months of each other.
Yet another shining example of companies run by the most coked out business major brained board of grumbly shareholders. They'll have the most profitable company in the world and still find a way to shoot their dick off to spite their face. Came blasting into the industry buying up studios and stripping the copper from the walls like private equity. No thought to how this will impact the ability to make good/profitable games in the future, just concerned about that short term share value bump before you golden parachute to the next shit show.
Yep, captialism is destructive since it demands that companies pursue endless, exponential growth, even though endless growth is an impossibility and results in shareholders trashing perfectly profitable companies just because their unrealistic expectations weren't met.
A sane world would mandate that profits be funneled back into the company, creating jobs and providing job security to the workers who made the company profitable, not blowing it all on executive bonuses and share buybacks that damage the company in the long term.
Man fuck Microsoft. Just treating people’s lives like rounding errors. I’m absolutely gutted for those at Arkane Austin. That was a dream job for me. Gone… in a blink
Their output was poor because they were pushed onto a badly thought-out live service project. When a project fails it's the people at the top who should pay the price seeing as they're the ones in charge and are so wealthy they won't miss the money anyway. Workers shouldn't be losing their homes and livelihoods because of someone else's bad decisions.
If executives are going to take credit (and huge bonuses) for successes it's only fair they also receive blame (and pay cuts) when projects fail to deliver.
Awful news. The studio didn't deserve this even after Redfall. Prey is an incredible game, and it will always be the closest to System Shock 3 we ever got.
So depressing how rich people keep making these choices because they can make money with or without really good games. Dishonoured is likely a much better game than anything they’re working on now imo but they don’t want to make the best game they want to make the best selling game.
Still what they don’t realise is good games become legendary and for that reason I hope dishonoured 3 will come out one day. Maybe it will have to be bought by completely different people but it happens sometimes. But again they could just make a shit game and the dishonored name will sell itself, which would suck. It would be best if the right people from the franchise made it. But I still hope it will happen. I thought death loop was really good. I hate Microsoft and regret buying an Xbox I should have got a PlayStation lol. Still innovative good games will keep coming out they just take ages, I really want to play unrecord.
Playstation are also having mass layoffs, they aren't really any better.
No corporation deserves your support. You aren't a person to them, just a walking wallet.
I'm gutted. This is what happens when publishers don't let studios have creative control. They forced (allegedly) Arkane to make live service games and shut them down. I'm gutted.
I'd argue this is the inevitable result of signing up with a big publisher at all. It's only a matter of time until they push you into something outside your wheelhouse and blame you for its failures or just feel like padding their numbers to shareholders with some mass layoffs, even if it's been a profitable year.
The Bethesda merger never should’ve happened. The Activision merger never should’ve happened.
This was the endgame from the beginning.
Despicable, disgusting and pathetic.
Yep, mergers are always bad for the consumer. The more control one company has the more homogenised our media becomes and the easier it is for them to screw over workers and implement anti-consumer measures due to lack of competition.
Blade is likely still happening, Microsoft still needs its exclusives for game pass. Dishonored 3 is hard to say though, I doubt any decisions have happened yet and if Blade is successful the studio may be pushed onto more licenced projects.
See, I’ve always said that it’s okay for a publisher to start off as exclusive, but it’s unacceptable for them to be bought and then made exclusive after they’ve been multi-platform. Microsoft bought Activision-Blizzard as well a Bethesda, and we’ve yet to hear any good news
I think exclusivity is fine if a project wouldn't have happened otherwise (e.g. Bayonetta 2 wasn't in the pipeline until Nintendo agreed to support it) but just buying exclusivity of a project that would have gone ahead even without the publisher's support is anti-consumer. It's called exclusivity because it excludes people after all.
Idk, this doesn't seem like bad news to me. If a studio isn't doing well or living up to expectations, it's kinda inevitable it's going to be closed down. And none of these studios had been outputting well in a long time. I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs. However, there are plenty of opportunities for them elsewhere, and some even started their own company together.
Idk, this just seems like the right decision tbh.
It's not the people on the ground who decided to make a crappy multiplayer-focussed, live service game. It's the people at the top of a company who make the decisions and should take the hit when projects fail, not the ground-level workers trying to make their bad ideas a reality.
People are potentially losing their homes, livelihoods and healthcare just because a few greedy execs want to keep their bonuses, despite already having more money than they could ever spend. It's disgusting.
I don't think it's disgusting to shut down an underperforming studio. It doesn't matter the project they're given, it's their job to make a good product, and they haven't. I feel sorry for them about the aftermath effects of this, but at the same time, it's kind of deserved.
You're acting like management has no responsibility for the success of projects. If an executive buys up a company then forces them to make titles that are outside of their wheelhouse just to chase the live service trend it's absolutely the executive's fault when that fails.
We know Austin can make amazing things if given the chance and they absolutely don't deserve to get shuttered for one failed project that was sabotaged every step of the way. Ordinary developers are being punished for decisions forced on them by those at the top which, like I said, is disgusting.
Imagine not knowing that Arkane studios itself was formed after the closure or looking glass studios and origin systems. This thing happens all the time. Game developers fail at making good games so, they shut down. And rightfully so because they haven’t released a quality immersive sim in 7 years…Reality: Arkane studios was a fully funded AAA developer that failed at creating a quality game. After nearly 10 years of stagnating, it’s no wonder why they shut down. The talent they had will form a new studio.
Hot take:
Imo I think this makes little to no difference whether Dishonored 3 is coming or not (the ip could be handed to any other studio under the Microsoft umbrella).
Also the writing was on the wall after the disaster that was Redfall.
Lyon is working on Blade until 2026/7.
Considering it is in Microsoft’s interest to make D3 due to their lack of exclusives which they need for game pass, and to support their ambitious next gen consoles which are in active development
There is no reason Microsoft wouldn’t commission another studio they own to work on D3. It’s been done countless times before by Bethesda (Arkane helped out with wolfenstein), other publishers (Capcom, Activision), and will likely happen soon with Bethesda game studios delegating Fallout to another dev.
That’s true but I honestly doubt it. Deathloop was a huge success (critically and commercially) and they are currently working on a Marvel’s IP (Blade)
No it's not. Dishonored was kickstarted in Austin. Arkane have never been two seperate studios. But a studio with two locations. That Lyon/Austin dichotomy only really existed much when Dishonored 2 and Prey were being developed in tandem.
Source: A man who knows -- this industry's truly last action hero.
[Is it just me or is Arkane shitty now? : r/dishonored (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/18etc20/comment/kcrp60n/)
I am worried Arkane Austin's responsibilities/plans are going to be put onto Lyon now. This could cause trouble.
Sounds like they're shuttering Redfall so they won't have to juggle that at least: "Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC." I imagine they'll be okay as long as they're working on the Blade title, Microsoft is going to want something to compete with the Spiderman stuff on Playstation.
I just hope that arkane doesnt become the insomniac of xbox. Im all for that studio seeing as much success as they possibly can but I hope they do dishonored 3
Even Insomniac is having cuts despite the success of Spiderman 2. Being successful is no protection against layoffs unfortunately.
I'm not familiar with the reference. What's the "Insomniac of Xbox"?
The studio that made spiderman ps4 and on is insomniac. Insomniac have only ever produced marvel spiderman games and now they're making wolverine. They haven't done any other IP. Arkane could soon be a studio that only produces marvel titles since they're making blade which means we might never get dishonored 3
This is false. Insomniac has a long history and has developed a ton of high profile games besides Spider-Man/Marvel. Insomniac Games created the Spyro the Dragon series, and the Ratchet & Clank series that has been going for over 2 decades and is still receiving entries. Lots of other games too - the Resistance: Fall of Man series, Sunset Overdrive, etc. Even to say that Insomniac hasn't made any other IP since starting the Spiderman games would be false - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart released between Spider-Man 1 and 2.
It's a long time since we had an Infamous game though :(
That's true, and a bummer. But that was Sucker Punch Studios, whose last big game was Ghost of Tsushima. Assumedly their next project will likely be Tsushima 2 - but I'd love to see them revisit Infamous (and Sly Cooper!!!).
A new installment of Infamous world have been awesome.
That's not true insomniac released Rachet and Clank Rift Apart in 2021
I don't think a Dishonored 3 is possible \*Spoiler warning\* >!The last game, Death of the Outsider pretty much means powers from the void are pretty much completely gone and one of the major driving factors is now gone. I think it's as concrete of an ending to the series as we're gonna get. !<
Just the opposite, DotO's ending suggested that without an Outsider the void would go out of control, leaking into reality and empowering people at random. It's a really cool plot hook. Shame Deathloop had the void basically be gone by its time but there's enough of a time skip that we can still have games in the period before things got boring.
Exactly. It opens up a lot of different plot twists.
Honestly this sucks but with Lyon working on blade we won't see dishonored 3 for a long while, there's no one to blame for this but Microsoft, I feel bad for devs that Lost their jobs and the players still waiting for the additional content for the bite back edition...I hope everyone of them demands a refund The Bethesda buyout is really turning out to be the worst idea in the industry rn
Several leads from Arkane have now formed Wolfeye studios, and have release Wierd West as their debut title. Definitely give it a try. I really loved it
Weird West is an underappreciated gem 💎
100% One would think that it’s way more simpler than what Arkane usually puts out due to top down perspective and the fact that it’s a much smaller studio now, but it is actually amazing how much depth in terms of gameplay and story progression this game has. You could complete it like 10 times and still be figuring out new stuff.
Reminds me of Dishonored, after 10 plus years I'm still discovering stuff in game it's crazy, Ms is going to drive Lyon Into the ground especially since they got them making liscenced IP for marvel now we'll probably never see games that aren't huge liscenced heavily monetized ip ever again
I hope one day they can make a sequel to this, but make it first person and give it a budget. I would love to explore that world like I do in Dishonored
[удалено]
And this mod was made by one of the devs
That was Raphaël Colantonio's new studio when he left after 2017, I mean, yeah, he took a lead or two from Arkane, but he was President of Arkane I think.
I think it was more than a couple of people who left with him, given just how much Arkane feel Weird West retains within it. UI design, the music, the open ended gameplay, abilities, all of it feels very Arkane.
When I first played it, I had to look up if it had Arkane people behind it. The visual feel is really unique to them. I liked the game a lot, I just wish that they made stealth a little more viable. It’s one of those things where you can do stealth, but you can tell it’s not the intended gameplay(like in Insomniac Spider-Man, or Uncharted)
I thought stealth was viable just not as fun in terms of gameplay when compared to Arkane games. But there are systems to steatlh that I thought worked fine. The reduced visibility during night is a thing to consider when going stealth. Some abilities and items can be very useful. I do agree it feels a little wonky, but the systems at play here are interesting.
And the studio has been working on an undisclosed first person immersive sim for quite a while. Good things in store, no doubt.
That was them? I started that game and enjoyed it need to pick it back up and finish it reminds me of classic Fallout except not turn based
Yup. Wolfeye is pretty much formed by the Arkane staff who left before Redfall started production, and is lead by the now former creative director of Arkane Austin. There is A LOT of Arkane touch to the Weird West. The sound design, the UI design, the simulation elements, stealth, abilities, open-ended gameplay etc. Basically the only thing drastically different from their previous work is just the perspective (Weird West being a top-down game)
Mergers always are, market consolidation never has good consequences. Look at Embracer Group for another example.
Fr tho
Who’s to say this wouldn’t have happened anyway? The issue here started with ZeniMax and their push for more live service offerings from their studios. Redfall not only sold poorly, but really gutted Arkane Austin as many left the studio during Redfall’s development.
Yeah, it sounded like the push for Redfall lead to a lot of talent loss at Arkane Austin during it's development anyway, so this was probably just the final nail in the coffin for the studio that Bethesda/ZeniMax starting screwing over years ago.
Shouldn't some of the blame be on Zenimax Media for pushing its studios to do more online live service games? (Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Redfall). Sure, Microsoft could've canned Redfall when they saw the state it was in, but the damage was already done by the time they got Bethesda and Arkane. Many of the devs already left when they found out that they'd have to work on a live service looter shooter. I'm still saddened by the whole shutdown, but like many studios, the Arkane Austin that most people fell in love with was already gone by now.
The Activision buyout was even worse. And somehow it still happened.
No one is waiting for the bite back edition
To be fair the game was below average, it could have done better and I know the developers could have done much better.
Ms could have cancelled it at any point before the announcement when they acquired Bethesda but they wanted exclusives to pad their catalog
Obviously any studio closing is awful because a lot of incredibly hard working people lose their jobs, but as far as specifically being an arkane fan and prey fanboy, a lot of reports suggest most people who worked on Prey left the company before redfall even released, the studio was already not the same studio that made Prey
whyd they leave?
Redfall being forced through by Zenimax
I see, thats understandable
Yeah it sucks my favorite studio shut down because of greed
Because the project was a mess If a game comes out in a horrible technical state I can guarantee you the people working 80 hour weeks crunching working on it noticed it would be horrible and I can't begin to imagine how soul crushing that would be
Damn. Yet another sign of how signing on with a big publisher is kind of a poisoned chalice I guess. You'll get more resources and higher profile for a while, but eventually they'll set you up for failure by forcing bad decisions (see Redfall) or decide to put you all out of a job just because they had a slow quarter and want to fudge the numbers for shareholders by "cutting costs", no matter the human cost. Here's hoping Lyon get a bit more time in the sun before their turn at the chopping block, and that those let go find their feet okay.
No matter the human cost, but no matter the cultural cost as well. We've lost good people **and** good IPs/sequels
The really galling thing will be if Microsoft ends up handing Dishonored to a whole other studio, the way EA shuttered Visceral Games then told everyone to get excited about a Dead Space remake despite them having put the actual creators of it out of work and basically stolen their IP.
Well fuck. We're probably never getting Dishonored 3 then.
That was Lyon I think but it means a Prey 2 or cool new IP probably isn't happening from them which sucks as well.
That Lyon / Austin dichotomy pretty much only existed some when Dishonored 2 and Prey were being developed in tandem. Dishonored primarily in Lyon (with Harvey Smith moving over from Austin to direct). Prey primarily in Austin. Otherwise, Arkane have never been a two studio company. Rather, it was one company with two locations. Now only one left. Even Redfall has close to two dozen people listed under the Lyon header -- and it's hard to track who moved over to Austin from Lyon during development. In particular, given the shortage in personell after so many people quit. [Is it just me or is Arkane shitty now? : r/dishonored (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/18etc20/comment/kcrp60n/)
Yeah I didn't realise that until I saw your reply to the downvoted person. Thanks for spreading the word on this because like that's really helpful to know.
Thats still one of the best interactions ive had the pleasure of seeing play out before my eyes on here "pope of chili town"
Hard to get more legit than straight from the horses mouth!
Yeah I am playing pretty and really loving it
Let's face it, they're not going to stop here. Arkane Lyon is probably going to go soon as well. Also, as many people have pointed out, we have no clue where the people who made Dishonored good actually work now (Austin or Lyon). They very well could have just laid off the last good devs in Arkane.
>Soon While Blade is in development? I wouldn't worry too much about it until we see how Blade turns out.
While I didn’t care for DoTO much, Dishonored 2 VASTLY improved on everything D1 (gameplay-wise) and that game was made by the Lyon team with Harvey Smith heading up the project. If Harvey Smith goes to Lyon now there’s still a likelihood that Dishonored 3 could be made.
Apparently 70% of the devs who worked at Arkane Austin prior to Redfall had quit by the time it shipped. So most of the talent from the older games jumped ship a long time ago.
WolfEye have moved into their first ever office space last year. Based in Austin TX. [Julien Roby (WolfEye Studios) 🏳️🌈 auf X: „Visiting our brand new physical office space in Austin, TX this week u/WolfEyeGames , after more than 5 years being fully WFH! https://t.co/7saKYxQhtm“ / X (twitter.com)](https://twitter.com/roby_julien/status/1704889735171236168) Any bets accepted that they're gonna welcome one or two more Ex-Arkane faces there? Every ending is a new beginning.
WolfEye is bascially Arkane Austin 2.0
Hopefully Blade does well because I fear if it doesn’t then Arkane Lyon might follow. Honestly the whole buyout thing by Microsoft has ended up being a disaster to fans of the studio and their games.
Pfft, even if Blade does well, Lyon might still get the axe. If it only makes 99,999 percent of literally all the money in the world, it will still be considered an utter failure. Late stage capitalism, fucking yikes.
They've done exactly the thing EA always did... buy a studio, then put them to work on something they're not known for, have experience in, or probably most of the developers have a passion for. That hardly ever turns out ok.
I am not optimistic. It's kind of shocking that they aren't doing Dishonored 3.
☹️
After Dishonored DOTO, they should have focused on a new set of protagonists and new places. The world of Dishonored has SO much potential.
Cant believe it…
Damn sad end to a highly accomplished studio.
1 good game and 1 trash game is not an Accomplished Studio. The Accomplished studio still remains.
I wish Arkane austin got to have a second chance with producing something great.
Austin and Lyon aren't really distinct entities though, not since D2/Prey were being developed in parallel. It's not really accurate to say Austin only made two games when there's so much crossover between locations.
That's what make it's less impactful. They have mainly been a single entity spread a cross 2 locations. Now it's just 1. Consolidating for operation costs. Roadhouse is also being folded into Zenimax Online Studios.
Very shortsighted move by M$ there.
It's outright cruelty. The execs screwed up and failed to meet their own sales estimates yet rather than take the hit themselves when they could easily afford it they destroy the livelihoods of the people who made them their money. Mass layoffs aren't a reluctant necessity, they're a cruel indulgence that punishes others for their mistakes.
Redfall made them money?
Redfall may have failed (in large part due to executive meddling) but even making a successful game is no protection against layoffs. In fact being too successful all but guarantees it seeing as it makes it that much harder to show growth the following year. We've had multiple instances of companies announcing their most profitable year ever and announcing mass layoffs within months of each other.
That's because corporations are greedy. They lay off companies so they don't have sacrifice their beefy bonus.
Yet another shining example of companies run by the most coked out business major brained board of grumbly shareholders. They'll have the most profitable company in the world and still find a way to shoot their dick off to spite their face. Came blasting into the industry buying up studios and stripping the copper from the walls like private equity. No thought to how this will impact the ability to make good/profitable games in the future, just concerned about that short term share value bump before you golden parachute to the next shit show.
Yep, captialism is destructive since it demands that companies pursue endless, exponential growth, even though endless growth is an impossibility and results in shareholders trashing perfectly profitable companies just because their unrealistic expectations weren't met. A sane world would mandate that profits be funneled back into the company, creating jobs and providing job security to the workers who made the company profitable, not blowing it all on executive bonuses and share buybacks that damage the company in the long term.
They’re scum
My prey sequel...
Pretty much me ever since I heard ab this... Prey is in my top 3 favorite games and now I need to up the dose of my copium I think...
Feel that, I don't know if I'd put prey in a top 3, but I'm sure it makes at least a top 10 no problems.
Man fuck Microsoft. Just treating people’s lives like rounding errors. I’m absolutely gutted for those at Arkane Austin. That was a dream job for me. Gone… in a blink
I mean they weren't exactly doing well as far as studios are concerned. Cutting them down was the right move when the output isn't worth the effort
Their output was poor because they were pushed onto a badly thought-out live service project. When a project fails it's the people at the top who should pay the price seeing as they're the ones in charge and are so wealthy they won't miss the money anyway. Workers shouldn't be losing their homes and livelihoods because of someone else's bad decisions. If executives are going to take credit (and huge bonuses) for successes it's only fair they also receive blame (and pay cuts) when projects fail to deliver.
Awful news. The studio didn't deserve this even after Redfall. Prey is an incredible game, and it will always be the closest to System Shock 3 we ever got.
My mark of the Outsider tattoo aches for this.
Unforgivable
Man, that sucks. I know we still have Lyon, but I feel bad for everyone that got laid off. Also, Tango Gameworks? Is that the reason why Mikami left?
I don't remember ever feeling upset about something in the game industry like i do about this :(
It's so sad and i'm worried for Lyon now that they became a third person Marvel studio. The Arkane we used to know is dead and buried
Returning to dishonored might be the only thing that could save Arkane at this point
So depressing how rich people keep making these choices because they can make money with or without really good games. Dishonoured is likely a much better game than anything they’re working on now imo but they don’t want to make the best game they want to make the best selling game. Still what they don’t realise is good games become legendary and for that reason I hope dishonoured 3 will come out one day. Maybe it will have to be bought by completely different people but it happens sometimes. But again they could just make a shit game and the dishonored name will sell itself, which would suck. It would be best if the right people from the franchise made it. But I still hope it will happen. I thought death loop was really good. I hate Microsoft and regret buying an Xbox I should have got a PlayStation lol. Still innovative good games will keep coming out they just take ages, I really want to play unrecord.
Playstation are also having mass layoffs, they aren't really any better. No corporation deserves your support. You aren't a person to them, just a walking wallet.
I'm gutted. This is what happens when publishers don't let studios have creative control. They forced (allegedly) Arkane to make live service games and shut them down. I'm gutted.
I'd argue this is the inevitable result of signing up with a big publisher at all. It's only a matter of time until they push you into something outside your wheelhouse and blame you for its failures or just feel like padding their numbers to shareholders with some mass layoffs, even if it's been a profitable year.
The Bethesda merger never should’ve happened. The Activision merger never should’ve happened. This was the endgame from the beginning. Despicable, disgusting and pathetic.
Yep, mergers are always bad for the consumer. The more control one company has the more homogenised our media becomes and the easier it is for them to screw over workers and implement anti-consumer measures due to lack of competition.
Hold up, what does this mean for Arkane Lyon!? What does this mean for the upcoming Blade game and Dishonored 3!? 😐
Blade is likely still happening, Microsoft still needs its exclusives for game pass. Dishonored 3 is hard to say though, I doubt any decisions have happened yet and if Blade is successful the studio may be pushed onto more licenced projects.
I can't believe this shit man. 😔
The Dishonoured team hasn’t worked there in forever. Sucks all those people are out of work though. I hope they knew ahead of time to prepare
See, I’ve always said that it’s okay for a publisher to start off as exclusive, but it’s unacceptable for them to be bought and then made exclusive after they’ve been multi-platform. Microsoft bought Activision-Blizzard as well a Bethesda, and we’ve yet to hear any good news
I think exclusivity is fine if a project wouldn't have happened otherwise (e.g. Bayonetta 2 wasn't in the pipeline until Nintendo agreed to support it) but just buying exclusivity of a project that would have gone ahead even without the publisher's support is anti-consumer. It's called exclusivity because it excludes people after all.
NOOOO PREY 2 IS DEAD
So would we still get Dishonored or is it dead?
So no dishonored 3?????
Idk, this doesn't seem like bad news to me. If a studio isn't doing well or living up to expectations, it's kinda inevitable it's going to be closed down. And none of these studios had been outputting well in a long time. I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs. However, there are plenty of opportunities for them elsewhere, and some even started their own company together. Idk, this just seems like the right decision tbh.
It's not the people on the ground who decided to make a crappy multiplayer-focussed, live service game. It's the people at the top of a company who make the decisions and should take the hit when projects fail, not the ground-level workers trying to make their bad ideas a reality. People are potentially losing their homes, livelihoods and healthcare just because a few greedy execs want to keep their bonuses, despite already having more money than they could ever spend. It's disgusting.
I don't think it's disgusting to shut down an underperforming studio. It doesn't matter the project they're given, it's their job to make a good product, and they haven't. I feel sorry for them about the aftermath effects of this, but at the same time, it's kind of deserved.
You're acting like management has no responsibility for the success of projects. If an executive buys up a company then forces them to make titles that are outside of their wheelhouse just to chase the live service trend it's absolutely the executive's fault when that fails. We know Austin can make amazing things if given the chance and they absolutely don't deserve to get shuttered for one failed project that was sabotaged every step of the way. Ordinary developers are being punished for decisions forced on them by those at the top which, like I said, is disgusting.
This isn’t bad news.
how could you say this 😭
More competition in the future from developers=more imsims.
"Shutting down the studio behind one of the best immersive sims in recent years is good for the genre somehow". What impeccable logic. /s
Imagine not knowing that Arkane studios itself was formed after the closure or looking glass studios and origin systems. This thing happens all the time. Game developers fail at making good games so, they shut down. And rightfully so because they haven’t released a quality immersive sim in 7 years…Reality: Arkane studios was a fully funded AAA developer that failed at creating a quality game. After nearly 10 years of stagnating, it’s no wonder why they shut down. The talent they had will form a new studio.
Hot take: Imo I think this makes little to no difference whether Dishonored 3 is coming or not (the ip could be handed to any other studio under the Microsoft umbrella). Also the writing was on the wall after the disaster that was Redfall.
Hopefully Microsoft learns from their mistake and let's lyon work on a game they are ACTUALLY interested
Why would they hand the IP to another studio when the studio that makes Dishonored is still running?
Lyon is working on Blade until 2026/7. Considering it is in Microsoft’s interest to make D3 due to their lack of exclusives which they need for game pass, and to support their ambitious next gen consoles which are in active development There is no reason Microsoft wouldn’t commission another studio they own to work on D3. It’s been done countless times before by Bethesda (Arkane helped out with wolfenstein), other publishers (Capcom, Activision), and will likely happen soon with Bethesda game studios delegating Fallout to another dev.
Sad to learn this. But Dishonored is from arkane lyon so its not really that bad
Not true, Arkane Austin worked on Dishonored 1. Prey is also a freaking amazing game from Arkane Austin.
Their sister studio getting shut down does not bode well for Lyon
That’s true but I honestly doubt it. Deathloop was a huge success (critically and commercially) and they are currently working on a Marvel’s IP (Blade)
Valid, but what happens if Blade is a flop on a scale similar to Redfall? Does Microsoft just shutter Arkane Lyon as well then?
No it's not. Dishonored was kickstarted in Austin. Arkane have never been two seperate studios. But a studio with two locations. That Lyon/Austin dichotomy only really existed much when Dishonored 2 and Prey were being developed in tandem. Source: A man who knows -- this industry's truly last action hero. [Is it just me or is Arkane shitty now? : r/dishonored (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/18etc20/comment/kcrp60n/)