Arkane boss on being in Bethesda's shadow: "We release a great game like Dishonored, they release f**king Skyrim"

Redfall director and Arkane boss Harvey Smith is used to living under Bethesda's shadow, although he says getting to work with bigger studios is "a gift."

Talking to PCGN, Smith detailed his experience releasing games under Arkane only to have Bethesda drop another opus in the same general timeframe.

"It's been fifteen years, and you could say in that whole time that I've been in the shadow of [Bethesda Game Studios]," he said. "We release a great game like Dishonored, they release f**king Skyrim, it's the biggest thing in history. We released Dishonored 2 – the best game I've ever made – and they do some huge Fallout thing."

Despite his obvious and seemingly playful frustration, Smith said Arkane is "very proud of what we do" and that he enjoys getting to pal around with studios the likes of "id Software, Shinji Mikami [of Tango Gameworks], and Todd Howard, it's strong all round and we learn from them."

Specifically, he said he isn't worried about the potential of Bethesda's Starfield overshadowing Redfall, as he rightfully pointed out that the two projects are very different in terms of, well, everything.

"Starfield is going to be a really big deal, and it's going to make people happy for many years going forward, but it's a very different thing [from Redfall]. There's some overlap between the audiences but not entirely, and we definitely have a different tone – but I like that [Bethesda Game Studios] exists and I'm going to play a lot of Starfield."

Smith also spoke frankly about why Arkane existing under the same umbrella as the Starfield creator is purely a benefit, as it "takes a lot of the pressure off," which definitely makes sense. If you're an Xbox studio sharing the spotlight with Starfield - arguably 2023's most anticipated title - well, you wouldn't be sharing the spotlight so much as basking in its glow.

In case you missed it, Smith recently revealed that Redfall was originally in development for PS5 but was canceled after Xbox acquired Arkane, and Microsoft responded by saying it "hasn't pulled any games from PlayStation."