Co-founder of Arkane and strong member of the studio until his resignation in 2017, Raphaël Colantonio notably oversaw the opening of the American branch Arkane Austin in 2006. His unexpected death cannot therefore leave him unmoved. In a new interview with PC Gamer magazine, the creator of Dishonored discusses this oh-so-unpopular decision by Microsoft.
« When you think for five minutes, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special team who had succeeded in superb projects and who could do it again », comments Colantonio. “ I think this decision just came from a need: “we have to close something.” Was it to please investors, the stock market? These people are playing another game. We don't understand their rules. It's hard to understand why they closed [Arkane Austin]. »
The game designer goes so far as to describe Microsoft's strategy as ” stupid » in the context of industry: “ Recreating such a special team is, dare I say, impossible. It takes forever. When you have Harvey's magical chemistry [Smith]Ricardo [Bare]etc. that arises is a specific moment in time and space that took forever to arise. Together, these people are magicians. You can't just say, “Oh, I'll hire more people.” Try to see. This is the strategy of large groups. They rely on big recruiting campaigns and overpaid people to recreate these magical teams. But it doesn't work like that. To me, that's really stupid. But what do I know, eh? »
This problem raised by Raphaël Colantonio is today reported by other figures in the industry while large and small studios have continued to lay off workers since 2023. For example, in France, the STJV is sounding the alarm regarding the strategy “ natural attrition » from Ubisoft which threatens to destabilize the teams by reducing the workforce – a question all the more relevant since the Guillemot house has just dissolved the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team due to insufficient results, despite the great critical success from metroidvania.
As for the Tango Gameworks studio, closed at the same time as Arkane Austin, the team was partially recovered by Krafton which assumes defending the creativity and experience of these employees before their immediate profitability. Two opposing visions which will now have to confront each other on the market.
- Also read | Raphaël Colantonio (Dishonored) returns to his roots with a retro-futuristic action-RPG
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