Arkane Austin Had Plans for New Immersive Sim Before Microsoft's Closure Decision

Arkane Austin harbored intentions to develop a novel immersive simulator prior to Microsoft deciding to cease its operations, various reports indicate. A fresh allegation posits that Arkane Austin aspired to craft a novel solo-player venture, possibly a continuation of Dishonored, before its dissolution.

This revelation originates from a new investigation by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, which elucidates Microsoft's contentious verdict to disband several Bethesda Softworks subsidiaries, among them Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games.

Sources close to the situation revealed that Arkane Austin, renowned for its work on Dishonored, Prey, and the 2023 hit Redfall, aimed to return to its roots by developing a new single-player "immersive sim."

The project was in its conceptual stage at the point of the studio's closure, with speculations pointing towards a "new installment in the Dishonored saga."

The future viability of transferring the pitch to a different ensemble within Arkane Studios, for instance, Arkane Lyon, remains nebulous. Concurrently, reports surfaced about Tango Gameworks pitching a successor to its widely celebrated rhythm-action title, Hi-Fi Rush, before its termination.

A town hall meeting on May 8, involving the heads of Xbox Game Studios, Matty Booty, and ZeniMax studios, Jill Braff, discussing the recent dissolutions with ZeniMax personnel, was notable.

Booty extolled Hi-Fi Rush yet refrained from delineating the motives behind Microsoft's decision, further clarifying that the closure of Arkane Austin was not related to Redfall's lackluster performance post-release. He suggested that Microsoft's management of its studios was overly dispersed and likened it to "spreading peanut butter on bread," concluding that shutting down Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin was a strategic move to reallocate resources.