The closure of several Xbox studios, notably Arkane Austin, at the start of the year was heartbreaking for many players, but not only that. One of its founders, Raphael Colantino, was also
“Killing Arkane Austin was not a good decision”
In an interview with PC Gamer, the founder of WolfEye Studios expressed his frustration with Microsoft's closure of the studio.
He explains in particular that Arkane Austin was a very special group “who did cool things and could do it again”.
I think if you look a little bit, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special band that did cool things and could do it again. I think the decision came down to, “We have to cut something.” Was it to please investors, the stock market? They play on another level
If the decision to close the studio resulted from financial pressures and was certainly also motivated by the mixed reception of [mot3756]he claims this was a mistake, believing the team possessed a unique creative “magic” that was difficult to recreate.
The rules they apply, we may not understand. It's something different. It's hard to know why they did what they did […] The only thing I stand by is that the specific choice to kill Arkane Austin was not a good decision.
Recreating a very special group like this is, I dare say, impossible. It takes forever. When Harvey's magic [Smith]Ricardo [Bare]etc. is brought together, it is a precise moment in time and space, which happened in this way, and which took forever to arrive. These people together can really make magic happen.
It's not a matter of saying, “It doesn't matter, we'll just hire again.” No, you have to try. This is what big bands do all the time. They try to massively hire and overpay people to create these magical groups. It doesn't work like that. So for me it was stupid. But what do I know?
As a reminder, Arkane Austin brought to life the excellent Prey released in 2017, which was the last game Raphael Colantino worked on before leaving to found WolfEye Studios. He then released Redfall in 2023, a cooperative game which unfortunately did not find its audience.
WolfEye Studios released its very first Weird West game in 2022, and is currently working on a very ambitious retro Sci-Fi RPG with other Arkane veterans.
Arkane Lyon is working on Marvel's Blade, a new single-player game set in Paris which was announced last December.
