Following the release of Prey - Arkane Studios’ System Shock-inspired sci-fi RPG - Arkane’s founder, Raphael Colantonio, announced that he was leaving the company. Dishonored 2’s co-creative director, Harvey Smith, also moved from the Dishonored studio at Lyon and travelled back to the US to oversee the Austin branch. At this point, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider was around halfway into development, but Smith was forced to take a more hands-off approach for the second half. 

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“It’s a shock, because Raph and I have been working side-by-side for nine years,” Smith tells us. “For Dishonored 1 we were in this weird role where we collaborated very tightly. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but also gratifying - and I learned a lot. We were already friends, but I got to know him much better. Then we said ‘let’s do separate projects - you grow the awesome studio and I’ll go at my own [project]’. Before you know it, four years went by.