Arkane Was Six Months From Bankruptcy Before Dishonored, Harvey Smith Says
The interview reframes Dishonored as a last-ditch bet that saved Arkane, adding context to the studio's later struggles under Microsoft.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Harvey Smith told The Game Business that Arkane Studios was near bankruptcy before Dishonored, with only six months of funding left. The studio had nine projects running at once, including work with Electronic Arts and a pitch to Ubisoft, before deciding to focus on what it loved, which led to Dishonored.
Harvey Smith, co-creative director on the Dishonored series, said in an interview with The Game Business that Arkane Studios was on the verge of bankruptcy before Dishonored shipped in 2012. The studio had about six months of funding left, he said, and was juggling nine projects at once to stay afloat.
Those projects included a collaboration with Electronic Arts on Boom Blox and a pitch to Ubisoft, plus a zombie shooter. Smith said the team eventually realized that approach was wrong. They decided to make what they loved and accept bankruptcy if it failed. That bet became Dishonored, which now holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam from over 61,000 reviews.
Smith and colleagues Ricardo Bare and Ben Horne later founded Black Pony Immersive in 2025, a studio focused on immersive simulations.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.