Dishonored developer Arkane Studios sneaks its way towards next gen consoles

By Anthony John Agnello January 25, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Up until 2012, Arkane Studios was nothing but untapped potential. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was a decent role-playing game, but it hardly changed the world. In the six years after that game came out, Arkane was better known for its cancelled projects. Steven Spielberg’s ambitious LMNO, The Crossing, and a rumored episode of Half-Life 2 are just a few of the games Arkane was trying to make, while getting regular work helping out on other studios on games like BioShock 2 and Call of Duty: World at War. Dishonored changed everything, though. The breakout original of 2012 pushed Arkane into the majors of big video game development, and now the whole industry is waiting to see what they’ll do next. Whatever it is, Dishonored will likely be the last game Arkane makes for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Arkane posted job openings for five different positions on industry website Gamasutra on Thursday and Friday. All of them are key positions, including Senior Gameplay Programmer, a Senior AI Programmer, a Senior Graphics Programmer, a Tools Programmer, and a Senior Engine Programmer. That last position suggests that Arkane is ready to move onto the next level of PC gaming technology, and whatever the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 are ultimately called when they’re released sometime in the next year. The Senior Engine Programmer “will adapt, maintain, and optimize the code for PC and next gen consoles,” reads the description.

All of the positions hint that Arkane’s next game will be very similar to Dishonored. Every candidate must be “passionate about FPS and RPG games.”

Will the game be a sequel to Dishonored? Arkane may want to pursue new ideas, but the company’s owner ZeniMax may have other plans. Bethesda PR chief Pete Hines was anxious to discuss the future of Dishonored last fall in light of its strong sales.

“I can tell you that Dishonored is far exceeding our sales expectations, which is especially cool considering it’s new IP facing a host of well-established franchises this quarter,” said Hines in November, “We’re very pleased and appreciate all the fans that have supported Dishonored and Arkane. We clearly have a new franchise.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Apple

Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

Gaming

TopSpin 2K25 serves up a fun, but safe tennis simulation revival

Serena Williams plays Tennis in TopSpin 2K25.

The first video game console I ever owned was an original Xbox that came bundled with two games: NCAA Football 2005 and Top Spin. My appreciation for both Madden and tennis games can be traced back to those being two of my first-ever console gaming experiences.

That’s why I was very excited to hear that Mafia 3 developer Hanger 13 and publisher 2K were bringing the Top Spin tennis series back with TopSpin 2K25 after a 13-year dormancy. Unfortunately, I'm disappointed with how underwhelming the overall product is. Even though it’s the series’ grand return after over a decade, it feels like an extremely iterative sequel to Top Spin 4. It’s certainly approachable, thanks to great tutorials and new meter systems to help players learn proper timing, but TopSpin 2K25's light content offering doesn't make for the strongest opening serve.
Top Spin returns
Developer Hanger 13 hasn’t been coy about the fact that it used 2011's Top Spin 4 as the base to build TopSpin 2K25. Top Spin 4 is a fantastic tennis game that people still play to this day, as it perfected the series’ timing-based gameplay. This isn’t like Mario Tennis Aces, where a special ability can shoot you across the court and hit timing doesn’t matter. TopSpin 2K25 is a true simulation, so learning proper positioning on the court, when to release a button to swing your racket, and how to aim your shot properly are all critical to success.

Gaming

Embracer Group is splitting into 3 companies. Here’s who owns what

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Embracer, the embattled gaming company that went through a massive restructuring over the past year, just announced that it will split up into three different companies: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

If you need a refresher, Embracer Group gained a reputation for acquiring gaming IPs and studios, including everything from Borderlands' Gearbox Entertainment to Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics to The Lord of the Rings' rights holder Middle-earth Enterprises. It functioned as one massive company separated into several operating groups. After a deal with Saudi Arabia's Savvy Group fell through last year, Embracer went through a massive period of "restructuring" where it laid thousands of developers off, shut down studios, and sold the likes of Saber Interactive and Gearbox. Now, it seems the saga of Embracer Group is nearing its end, as the company admitted in a press release "that the current Group structure does not create optimal conditions for future value creation both for Embracer Group’s shareholders and other stakeholders."

Gaming

Hades 2: release date prediction, trailers, gameplay, and more

Melinoe standing in a stone circle.

Just like Zagreus' never-ending quest to escape the Underworld in Greek mythology, it seems we too are destined to continue fighting through new levels of demons and monsters in the sequel to the amazing roguelike Hades. We're not complaining, as that game was one of the best games released in 2020, and no one expected a sequel at all, let alone one announced so soon. Hades 2 will be the first sequel studio Supergiant Games have ever made, and it makes sense given how successful and popular the first game ended up being. Aside from some notable exceptions like Rogue Legacy 2 and Spelunky 2, not many roguelikes ever get a direct sequel, so there's a lot of mystery surrounding how Hades 2 will be different from the first game. But there's no need to dive into the depths of the Underworld yourself in search of answers, as we've pulled all the information we could from the jaws of Cerberus.
Release date

Hades 2 has no release date quite yet. However, the team has apparently been working on it since early 2021, and, just like the first, will come out first in early access. Supergiant has stated that details about this early access period would be revealed in 2023, however, that does not guarantee it will actually begin in 2023. The first Hades was in early access for almost two years, but we know that a slightly bigger team is working on Hades 2 from the start so this game may hit 1.0 a bit faster.
Platforms