Arkane Studios Founder Reveals How A Direct Pitch For Thief 4 And Financial Struggles Led To The Creation Of Dishonored And The City Of Dunwall
For years, Arkane Studios has embedded the design philosophies of Looking Glass Studios within its own brand of immersive simulations. Its been clear for a long time, and even fans have spotted these nods to System Shock and Thief within Dunwall and Karnaca. However, a newly released developer commentary reveals that Arkane very nearly got the chance to properly continue the legacy of the franchise that inspired its very existence.
On an retrospective stream hosted on the personal YouTube channel of Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio, the veteran dev was joined by creative director Harvey Smith to reflect on the development of the 2012 stealth classic. The original pitch, the pair discussed, wasnt a new intellectual property but actually a direct proposal to make Thief 4.
Colantonio explained that during a time when Arkane studios was in dire financial straits, representatives from Bethesda Softworks approached them, as Bethesda was actively looking into obtaining the rights for the classic stealth brand and intended for the creators of Arx Fatalis to lead the revival. Colantonio recounted:
They came to us with a proposal along the lines of: We may get the rights for the Thief series, and we want you guys to make the next installment. It was very exciting to me because, financially, things were not looking up for the studio at all, and working with Bethesda at this point could not only turn things around completely but also allow us to be involved in a franchise that we loved
Bethesda soon after then proposed to Colantonios team the chance to also take on another proposed project – a game adaptation of Ridley Scotts classic science fiction film Blade Runner. Arkane split its workforce into two teams: one to work on the mechanics for the potential Thief 4, and the other to work on the design and content for the cyberpunk setting. According to Colantonio, this time within the studio was competitive:
Competition of sorts sparked within the studio –we knew that Bethesda would pick one, but we did not know which of the two Naturally everyone wanted the best for Arkane, but personally, if theyd picked Blade Runner, I would have been quite upset not only because it meant I couldnt lead the project, but also because I personally did not find it all that inspirational.
Unable to secure rights to Blade Runner and Thief, Bethesda urged Colantonio and his teams to not only take the stealth action mechanics for their Thief 4 proposal but to also use them to build their own brand new universe. This idea eventually became Dishonored, with Harvey Smith joining the team a short while later as creative director in order to shape the fictional city of Dunwall.
This is a case of industry irony where Arkane managed to forge its own award winning IP, and Eidos Montreal would release a critically disappointing reboot of Thief roughly 1.5 years later. In Dishonored 2, Arkane would then hire Stephen Russell, the original voice of Garrett from the Looking Glass Studios trilogy to voice Corvo Attano. In recent attempts to revive the classic IP, the likes of Maze Theory’s Thief VR Legacy of Shadow released this December also largely failed to capture the magic and critical success Arkane was able to create when they decided to Forge their own path.
