Bethesda Wasn't Convinced About Dishonored 3, So We Got Deathloop Instead
The poor reception of Dishonored 2 led to the birth of Deathloop. The title was originally intended to be a „small game,” filling the gap before Arkane's next major project.
In an interview for Rock Paper Shotgun, Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio revealed that Deathloop began its life as a "small game." The studio had designed it to learn more about creating multiplayer titles. In turn, the idea itself arose from the fact that Bethesda - which owns Arkane - decided to halt development of the Dishonored series.
"Bethesda wanted us to do something. The company's management didn't quite know where we were going after Dishonored. 'Do we want Dishonored 3? I don't know, let's do something simple and short beforehand, and we'll see.'"
It was funny, because they said, 'No, we don't want to make a Dishonored 3, but maybe you can offer us a small game - something that gets a multiplayer mode that could inspire us, something that has microtransactions, and maybe something to use some gameplay elements, like roguelike,'" Colantonio said.
Ultimately, Arkane's experiment succeeded and as a result Deathloop "became something big". And it's not just the commercial success of the game, but also the develeopment cost. As the developer noted, the work on the game consumed as much money as it probably would have cost to create Dishonored 3.
Deathloop debuted in 2021. The game about the fate of two assassins who, together with other residents of the island of Blackreef, are stuck in an endless time loop, received praise from players and industry critics. The popularity of the game was reflected in the numerous awards that went to its account.
