Prey and Redfall developer Arkane Austin turned a casualty of a very brutal 12 months of layoffs and studio closures, as considered one of 4 studios Microsoft closed down in Might this 12 months. Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio has mentioned he was saddened by the closure–but he would not assume the studio’s distinctive model of immersive sim goes wherever.
“It is unhappy, after all,” Colantonio mentioned in an interview with PC Gamer. “I needed to see our sport going without end, for apparent causes. However the firm is [gone], however not the folks. The folks survive.”
The Arkane founder mentioned the historical past of the corporate and the style itself, pointing to Wanting Glass Studios, which he described as “the originator of the immersive sim.” Regardless of shuttering in 2000, Wanting Glass launched quite a lot of influential video games together with System Shock and Thief, and ultimately impressed the founding of Arkane, which additionally employed quite a lot of ex-Wanting Glass builders.
Colantonio additionally pointed to Black Isle Studios, which closed in 2003, however carried on its legacy by means of its folks. “You had Brian Fargo make his personal firm, you had Troika, you had Obsidian,” Colantonio mentioned. “We nonetheless bear in mind Black Isle as an ideal firm in that style, however then we nonetheless have their video games.”
Arkane is not absolutely gone, after all, with the Lyon studio nonetheless in operation, however Colantonio himself has since moved on together with his new mission Wolfeye Studios, which launched its first sport Bizarre West in 2022.
“We’re doing extra with Wolfeye,” Colantonio added. “The spirit of the immersive sim, I feel typically that is what you need–sometimes you want a renewal, you want a brand new impulse. And I feel that is going to spawn extra little immersive sim firms. So whereas [the Arkane Austin closure] is a tragic occasion, I do not assume it essentially signifies that immersive sims are going to go away.”
Colantonio very just lately teased extra about Wolfeye’s subsequent sport, a retro-sci-fi RPG he says will make followers of Dishonored and Prey very pleased.