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Arkane Studios' Harvey Smith confirms work on an unannounced project

According to a recent interview, the Arkane Austin director is working with Dishonored and Prey developers on something besides Deathloop.

TJ Denzer

January 6, 2021 7:23 AM

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Harvey Smith of Arkane Studios’ Austin branch has been around a number of major projects in gaming history, not the least of which were roles of lead design on early Deus Ex games and direction of the Dishonored franchise. We’ve known for a while that Arkane was putting its efforts towards Deathloop in 2021, which Smith is apparently not part of, but that doesn’t mean Smith is resting on his laurels. Recently, Smith confirmed in an interview that there is an unannounced project at Arkane he is working on with Dishonored and Prey developers.

Harvey Smith made this confirmation in a recent interview with Spanish gaming publication Vandal. In said publication, Smith shared the details of where various key players of Arkane were at in the current scheme of things. While Dishonored lead artist Sébastien Mitton and Dishonored 2 lead designer Dinga Bakaba have moved into work on Deathloop, Smith revealed that his efforts are on another thing altogether.

“At the end of Dishonored 2 I went back to Austin. I'm not in Deathloop. I'm in something else, working with the guys who made Dishonored and Prey,” Smith shared.

This coincides with reports from late 2020, in which Arkane Studios job openings suggested that new projects were in the works throughout the group. With Smith’s commentary in this recent interview, it would seem that at least one of these rumored projects is well underway, though it can’t be said if it’s an altogether new IP or a follow-up to an established Arkane franchise. Either way, it should come as no surprise that Arkane has several irons in the fire. The studio was caught up in the overall business when Microsoft announced acquisition of Bethesda and ZeniMax Media in 2020. With Deathloop remaining a PS5 console exclusive in its initial launch, Arkane has every reason to start cooking up something new for its tenure with Microsoft and Xbox.

It’s also hard to say when we can expect to see any reveals of the fruits of Smith and team’s labor, but it seems we can look forward to seeing more Arkane Studios goodness than just Deathloop coming in 2021. Stay tuned to Shacknews as we await further reveals and updates on Smith and Arkane’s new upcoming project.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.