naiwa 2026-05-24

The founder of Arkane revealed how failed negotiations gave birth to the iconic stealth action game.



Raphaël Colantonio published a one-hour joint playthrough of the original Dishonored on his YouTube channel together with Harvey Smith. During the video, the developers not only played through several game chapters but also shared little-known details about the game's creation history.According to Colantonio, Bethesda approached Arkane with an offer to develop Thief 4 when the studio was experiencing financial difficulties. It was about a full-fledged continuation of the series, not just a "reimagining." Almost simultaneously, another opportunity arose — to create a game set in the Blade Runner universe. Arkane split into two camps: Colantonio's team worked on Thief 4, while the employees under Smith's leadership worked on the Blade Runner project. There was a spirit of rivalry in the studio — both knew Bethesda would choose only one project.In the end, the publisher failed to acquire the rights to either franchise. Colantonio's team was offered to develop their existing work into an independent project — thus Dishonored was born, which Smith later joined as creative director. As a curiosity: the pub "Dog's Pit" was originally called "Bear Pit" — a reference to Thief: The Dark Project.