Arkane Studios - Raphael Colantonio Says Goodbye

Myrthos

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Arkane Studios' Raphael Colontonio, who worked on Ark Fatalis, Dishonored and Prey has left Arkane and is off doing, err... something else.

The last 18 years have been an amazing adventure - from starting Arkane in 1999, to making our first game, Arx Fatalis, to joining ZeniMax Media in 2010 and releasing the Dishonored series and Prey to critical acclaim - it is time for me to step out to spend some time with my son and reflect on what is important to me and my future.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest people in the industry, and I feel extremely lucky to have been part of this journey with everyone at Arkane.

I’ve lived many magical moments. I’ve also been through the hard times. But, I can say that joining ZeniMax took things to the next level and gave Arkane the opportunity to emerge as a world-class studio. ZeniMax enabled us to make the best games that we’ve ever made. And I know there is even more to come.

ZeniMax strongly believes in Arkane’s ability to make great games, and is committed to supporting the studio. My long-time friend and colleague, Harvey Smith, will oversee the team in Austin and I will be around for as long as necessary to ensure a smooth transition to the new management team in Lyon.

I wish the best to everyone at Arkane, Bethesda, and ZeniMax. Without a doubt I will miss everyone.

As I close, I’d like to thank the Arkane fans for their passion and support. I proudly join them as Arkane Studios' biggest champion, and I look forward to playing the extraordinary new games the studio is working on.

-Raf Colantonio
More information.
 
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Long career for a developer, especially with the same company the whole time. I wish him well. Not that he reads RPGWatch, but you never know....I know for a fact that we have two Bethesda devs that lurk(ed) here.
 
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I likely drove those Beth devs away long ago !! :leer:

What did this Arkane dev do mostly? I still yearn for a new Arx Fatalis :(
 
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I know for a fact that we have two Bethesda devs that lurk(ed) here.
We did? How come I didn't notice them?
Lemme guess - both work on ESO which is a topic I often skip.
 
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Arx Fatalis was cool. I really ought to replay it someday, with some mods on top.
 
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The lack of success with Prey and Dishonored 2 might be a factor here. Both games are superb, and I think it's really sad that we're still facing the exact same issue System Shock faced back in the day. These games are just too sophisticated for the mainstream audience to get excited about.
 
Not that he reads RPGWatch, but you never know….I know for a fact that we have two Bethesda devs that lurk(ed) here.

Really? Who? Do you mean NewDArt and joxer who talk here all the day so modders have later to do their work properly? :)
 
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The lack of success with Prey and Dishonored 2 might be a factor here. Both games are superb, and I think it's really sad that we're still facing the exact same issue System Shock faced back in the day. These games are just too sophisticated for the mainstream audience to get excited about.

Though I agree with you on some points, I think we don't know if it was success or not for them. It really depends on the budget they had and number of units they sold. Dishonored 2 sold "poorly" in the first few months because of the performance issue, and Prey was in a special place. People wanted more of the, well Prey, but they just used a name for new IP.

Also I digress it might be a factor. To work for that many years for one company in IT industry is really really rare.
 
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Really? Who? Do you mean NewDArt and joxer who talk here all the day so modders have later do their work properly? :)

I appreciate the thought, but in this case sorry, I'm not working for that company. You've seen me reporting on specific bugs/workarounds/fixes either here or on steam/official forums about different games.
Ergo, I don't work for Bethesda. Such type of a person they would never hire. ;)
 
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and Prey was in a special place. People wanted more of the, well Prey, but they just used a name for new IP.
I never thought there was any truth to this.
How many people even remember the original Prey?
Altogether 10, maybe? It was a really good game, but the target audience of the new Prey has probably never heard of it.

Nah, if it really did sell poorly, it was because Bethesda pulled a fully idiotic stunt and didn't provide preview copies so nobody really knew if they'd like the game beforehand.
 
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I appreciate the thought, but in this case sorry, I'm not working for that company. You've seen me reporting on specific bugs/workarounds/fixes either here or on steam/official forums about different games.
Ergo, I don't work for Bethesda. Such type of a person they would never hire. ;)

Do you think they dont need testers who are able to find and report bugs and even workarounds? :)

Of course, you would have big problems with their community policy if you would post here your opinions and details about their projects, especially crappy things you have to test. :)
 
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We did? How come I didn't notice them?
Lemme guess - both work on ESO which is a topic I often skip.

Lol, they lurked they didn't post. I only know because they emailed me a couple times about certain threads. I was a #Dalnet Morrowind channel junkie and so they knew my nick.
 
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Though I agree with you on some points, I think we don't know if it was success or not for them. It really depends on the budget they had and number of units they sold. Dishonored 2 sold "poorly" in the first few months because of the performance issue, and Prey was in a special place. People wanted more of the, well Prey, but they just used a name for new IP.

Also I digress it might be a factor. To work for that many years for one company in IT industry is really really rare.

Well the fact than he founded the company was an helping factor for him to stay probably :) It was actually the president of the company for the whole period.
They sold it to Zenimax the company owning Bethesda in 2010.

They were independently driven at the beginning because they were doing Dishonoured, a project initiated before the sale.
Bethesda puts its fingers more and more in the last projects until they kicked their idiot "no version to the journalists before the release" stunt, so they received dubious press under the pretext they were probably hiding stuff. When the PC version went with all those pesky performance bugs.. it just prove the point.

On PC, Dishonored sales : around 3.146.000, Dishonored 2: 730.000, Prey : 300.000

I bet 2 things:
- They budgeted much more sales for D2 and Prey
- He has been pushed out politely.
 
Well the fact than he founded the company was an helping factor for him to stay probably :) It was actually the president of the company for the whole period.
They sold it to Zenimax the company owning Bethesda in 2010.

They were independently driven at the beginning because they were doing Dishonoured, a project initiated before the sale.
Bethesda puts its fingers more and more in the last projects until they kicked their idiot "no version to the journalists before the release" stunt, so they received dubious press under the pretext they were probably hiding stuff. When the PC version went with all those pesky performance bugs.. it just prove the point.

On PC, Dishonored sales : around 3.146.000, Dishonored 2: 730.000, Prey : 300.000

I bet 2 things:
- They budgeted much more sales for D2 and Prey
- He has been pushed out politely.


Well Dishonored 1 was released in 2012 and had numerous sales, I got definitive edition for 5 euros. So it's not fair to compare them. Let's see in 2021 how many Dishonored 2 has sold :D
 
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Sure, do compare.

DH2 is a musthave. Not just by me, buy now. It's problem was broken state it was released in, but is now patched.

Prey is just a forgettable game, nothing to brag about inside it, skip. It's problem aka grinding boredom cannot be fixed. Buy only if speedruns are your thing, this one can be beaten under 10 minutes.
 
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Numbers are from 2014 for Dishonored. And it is to give an idea, there is no console numbers either and they probably are bigger.
 
Numbers are from 2014 for Dishonored. And it is to give an idea, there is no console numbers either and they probably are bigger.

Don't follow you, you want to say that 3.146.933 are from 2014?
 
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Yes. After that date they started to do a lot of discount everywhere to attract more people to the franchise because they were preparing D2.
D2 is a better game than the one but he sold much less because of the spurned press and the broken state when he got released.
People associated the silence pre release to the fact than the game was not ready and they wanted to hide it. Actually it was a Bethesda policy.
 
Yes. After that date they started to do a lot of discount everywhere to attract more people to the franchise because they were preparing D2.
D2 is a better game than the one but he sold much less because of the spurned press and the broken state when he got released.
People associated the silence pre release to the fact than the game was not ready and they wanted to hide it. Actually it was a Bethesda policy.

You want to tell me that no one bought the game from 2014th, because that number is the current number of sold copies http://steamspy.com/app/205100
 
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No, no, just than from this date numbers are no more reliable because the game was also mostly delivered in bundles, grouped offers and so on.. So maybe even not installed.
Again those are just for comparison without consoles.

But the point was not the precise number but the fact than the huge numbers of D1 dit not translate in more people buying D2 or entice more people to try Prey because they would have trusted the studio which is a big part of the strategy to develop a new IP
 
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