Failure to Fame: How Dishonored Saved Arkane Studios

In part 1 of a 3-part series, Arkane discusses their struggles to find success for 12 years, how Dishonored propelled them into the limelight, and helped revive immersive sim RPGs.

By Mike Mahardy and Jake Dekker on June 1, 2017 at 5:14PM PDT

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Xan26

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Xan26

I learned about Arkane Studios when they released Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Most wonderful medieval first-person RPG I've played. I was appalled by its lack of success, how little it was known, and how little time it lasted.

Its multiplayer was incredibly satisfying and the singleplayer... I played it over 8 times already and I'm always finding something new every time. They are a wonderful company, and I'm glad they found their place.

Upvote • 7 years ago

Stat84

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Stat84

I would love you guys to create a documentary that follows the creation a game right form the start. concept meetings, briefings, designing, programming etc until the release. would be very interesting...would take time though as it takes 2-4 years to create a game lol.

maybe small mini documentaries like this one that follows the artists behind these games

Upvote • 7 years ago

cyberpunk_2077

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cyberpunk_2077

@stat84: I think Lionhead did that with one of the Fable games.

Upvote • 7 years ago

DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

No wonder they struggle, they have bloody useless programmers. Why on earth do people keep giving these companies get out of jail free cards for releasing crap quality games at launch?

Years ago they used to produce quality PC product , today they are just a shadow of their former self.

Upvote • 7 years ago

mogan

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mogan Moderator

@deviltaz35: You don't remember all the bugs in Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah?

Upvote • 7 years ago

DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Mogan: In any case i am annoyed with myself now as i told myself i would refuse to let this company upset me anymore with their uselessness. I'll just get a refund on the PS4 version now and get it later on PC when it's 10 bux or so.

It's obvious they won't fix the PS4 version as it doesn't even seem like they know how they messed it up.

Upvote • 7 years ago

DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Mogan: Ahh so you admit they have always been useless :). I actually got them from Gog.com lol .

Actually the PC version of Prey was at least fixed very quickly. Ps4 version they just make worse with each new patch which is baffling.

However not even bothering to address the elephant in the room is what got me as the pro support is pointless when you don't fix what is broken first.

I am almost positive they went to the same console game dev school as Square with the mess they made of FFXV on the Pro right up until the last patch. We still have to wait until June for the frame pacing to be fixed in HQ mode though but at least in some form the game can now be played smoothly on the Pro.

Unlike Prey.

I was probably a little harsh as the first Dishonoured game ran at 1080p @ 60 fps even on a 560m laptop.

I would have been happier if they just used the same engine so the console version was 60 fps with no issue.

Upvote • 7 years ago

mogan

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@deviltaz35: Useless? No; their first few games just had some problems at launch.

I've had a whole lot of fun playing Arkane games.

Upvote • 7 years ago

DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Mogan: Probably i was a bit harsh , they weren't bad on PC but on PS4 it is not such a good story. It will teach me to only get Cryengine games on PC from now on based on Prey anyway.

Why didn't they just use Idtech ?

Upvote • 7 years ago

mogan

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@deviltaz35: Not sure. They built the Void Engine off of idtech, for Dishonored 2, and that had pretty big performance problems when it launched on PC. Of course, I don't know how much of that was the engine.

Either way, I've only ever played Arkane games on the PC, and my overall experience has been extremely positive.

Upvote • 7 years ago

DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Mogan: Ah ok no problem. I do remember i only had a 560m when first dishonored came out and it still ran at 1080p 60 fps even on that 2011 laptop. I was stunned that it ran so smoothly on that hardware.

Upvote • 7 years ago

Game_Cross

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Game_Cross

Great work, Gamespot. VERY cool to see both Deus Ex and Dishonored came from my beloved Texas. I love this so far!

2 • 7 years ago

psychomantis47

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psychomantis47

nice video, i was hoping there would be some buzz like this since prey is turning out to be a gem that contains easter eggs to system shock and looking glass st.

2 • 7 years ago

eggmcmuff

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eggmcmuff

Saved or made? It's a fine line.

3 • 7 years ago

Godlikan

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Godlikan

Arcane Studios deserve all the best, they made Arx Fatalis, game that looked better and performed better than Morrowind, and it came out before it. Better story too. Somehow it got under the radar. There is fan made improvements to the game if anyone new age wants to try it, google Arx Libertatis. Enjoy.

Upvote • 7 years ago

SythisTaru

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SythisTaru

Art Direction saved them, 100%

Upvote • 7 years ago

gohan_3

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gohan_3

Ive been lurking on here for years, hardly ever log in or post. But this actually got me to log in and post, I really enjoyed it hope more like it come along.

Upvote • 7 years ago

mogan

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mogan Moderator

Hey, thanks for making this. I always like to hear the inside story behind developers. Especially when I've enjoyed their games so much.

3 • 7 years ago

lewser5