The studio announced Deathloop in 2019, a new immersive sim with multiplayer hooks that promised to be more replayable than Dishonored. Despite plentiful critical praise, soft sales in Prey's debut week started discussions about whether it still made sense for big publishers to fund intricate singleplayer games with live service on the rise.ĭeathloop represented the beginning of a move away from Arkane's roots (Image credit: Bethesda) Arkane's games changed post-PreyĪfter Prey's release in 2017 and Colantonio's departure, Arkane seems to have started on a new course. The glaring flaws in Redfall feel like the result of a conflicted creative vision within Arkane-as if the desire to infuse Redfall with Arkane's trademark ingenuity has been drowned out by an obligation to add things that more lucrative games have, like tiered loot, granular stats, big open worlds, and multiplayer.Īlthough it was more successful, the beginning of that change can be seen in Deathloop.

Redfall wasn't announced until 2021, so Colantionio probably wasn't referencing it specifically.

'Because the numbers to recoup a triple-A game,' he said, 'you're talking about numbers that are so high that, then you're not making a game anymore, you're making a product.' In 2020, though, Colantonio told PC Gamer that making smaller games at his new studio, which released the very good Weird West last year, has allowed him to 'take more risks' and worry less about the market. At the time, Colantonio said he wanted to step back from game development to spend more time with family, but left Arkane and Bethesda on good terms.

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