Key Takeaways
1. Harvey Smith was shocked by Microsoft’s decision to close Arkane Austin after the poor reception of Redfall.
2. He expressed concern for younger developers at the studio, especially those who worked on Redfall as their first project.
3. Smith took responsibility for Redfall’s commercial failure, attributing it to the challenges of a live-service model during the pandemic.
4. Despite the closure, he led the team in releasing a significant update for Redfall, which improved the game and aligned it more with Arkane’s original vision.
5. Smith revealed that the studio was developing an exciting Blade Runner game before the closure, which he believed could have been very promising.
Harvey Smith, one of the minds behind Dishonored and the long-standing studio head at Arkane Austin, recently shared his feelings about the “shock” of Microsoft’s decision to close the studio in May 2024, which came after the poor reception of their vampire-themed FPS, Redfall.
Reflecting on the Studio’s Journey
In a conversation with Simon Parkin on the latest episode of the My Perfect Console podcast, Smith reflected on the team’s journey, recalling their experience in developing the 2012 stealth-action FPS Dishonored and the well-regarded yet seemingly overlooked 2017 title Prey. He also explored the tough emotions involved with the studio’s closure. Smith received a call the night before the public announcement, which left him restless, thinking about the younger developers who presented their first work through Redfall.
Smith’s Thoughts on the Closure
During the interview, Smith expressed his feelings: “It was a shock, because we had done really good work, and this is a group of people in some cases, who had worked together for one project and in other cases, like me and Ricardo Bare (creative lead behind Prey: Mooncrash), had worked together since the late nineties.” He took responsibility for Redfall’s commercial failure, explaining that it was a live-service experiment that didn’t succeed during the pandemic. He shared his concern for the new team members, saying, “Who I really felt for were the new people, like, this was their first project, or they’d only been Rin the industry for a bit of while… Mostly it was a shock, and it was trying to help, especially the people that, for whom this was just a mind-blowing experience.”
Moving Forward with Updates
Despite the unexpected closure, Smith remained focused on improving Redfall and led the rollout of its 1.4 patch, which he described as “a huge full-court press inside the company.” This patch added an offline mode, revamped systems, and brought the game closer to Arkane’s original vision. Smith expressed gratitude that Microsoft allowed them to release this final update, stating, “Microsoft allowed us to finish 1.4 with a lot of campaigning going for it. And as a result, the team’s work wasn’t wasted, and the game that sits up there today is much better than the one that we released at launch.”
Nevertheless, he added, “It was not a decision I agreed with. I did believe very much in the studio’s future. We were working on something very cool.” He also disclosed that the studio was developing a Blade Runner game, saying, “We were working on a Blade Runner game, which was super exciting to me. What we could have done with Blade Runner…”
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