Bethesda veteran Harvey Smith has mirrored on the closure of Arkane Austin and the struggles of the studio’s last recreation, Redfall. For anybody simply catching up, Arkane Austin made the vampire recreation Redfall below Smith’s management. After the live-service recreation failed to search out an viewers after launch in Might 2023, Microsoft closed the studio a 12 months later and ended most help for the sport.
Smith appeared on the My Perfect Console podcast not too long ago and stated (via Eurogamer), “Each firm makes the selections they make for the explanations they make them.”
For Arkane Austin’s closure, Smith stated the “shock” was that Arkane–as a wider group that additionally comprised Dishonored studio Arkane Lyon–made well-received and commercially profitable video games.
“Artistic efforts are unpredictable,” he stated. “It was a shock at first, however who I actually felt for have been the individuals who have been new, this was their first venture or they’d solely been within the trade for some time.”
Naturally, Smith stated he didn’t agree with the selection to shut Arkane Austin, saying he believed “very a lot” within the studio’s future. “We have been engaged on one thing tremendous cool,” he stated.
As for Redfall’s struggles, Smith stated the sport’s 1.4 update–released after phrase got here that Arkane Austin would close–delivered a whole lot of enhancements which may have saved the sport had they been there at launch.
“If we had launched with that after which constructed from there it may need been a distinct story,” he stated.
GameSpot’s Redfall evaluation scored the sport a 4/10. Reviewer Mark Delaney wrote, “In the end, Redfall is a recreation that ought to not have been launched but.”
Arkane Lyon is now engaged on a brand new Blade recreation with Marvel, nevertheless it’s been a while since we have seen or heard something about it.