Microsoft's decision to close Arkane Austin was "stupid," says founder: "Recreating a very special group like that is, I would dare to say, impossible"

Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio has called Microsoft's decision to shut down the studio he helped create "stupid" as "recreating a very special group like that is, I would dare to say, impossible."

Colantonio helped set up Arkane back in 1999 before it grew into two studios around seven years later – that being Arkane Lyon and Arkane Austin. His time with Arkane came to an end in 2017, however, following the release of the sci-fi immersive sim Prey. Following that, the Austin team would go on to release the unsuccessful Redfall in 2023 before being shut down by Microsoft earlier this year.

For Colantonio, it's a move that Microsoft might soon regret because bringing together such a talented group is truly difficult.

"I think if you look a little bit, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group of people that have made some cool things and that could pull it off again," he tells PCGamer. "I think it was a decision that just came down to, 'We need to cut something.' Was it to please the investors, the stock market? They're playing a different game."

Colantonio goes on to say that he doesn't know why Microsoft cut the cord – he was, after all, no longer at the studio. However, he remains adamant that it was the wrong thing to do and that we may never see a studio like Arkane Austin again.

"Recreating a very special group like that is, I would dare to say, impossible," he says. "It takes forever. When you have that magic of Harvey [Smith] and Ricardo [Bare] etc that all come together, it's a specific moment in time and space that just worked out this way, that took forever to reach. Those people together can really make magic. It's not like, 'Doesn't matter, we'll just rehire.' No, try it. That's what big groups do all the time. They try to just hire massively and overpay people to create those magic groups. It doesn't work like this. So to me, that was stupid. But what do I know?"

These days, you'll find Colantonio over at WolfEye, still making immersive sims like Weird West. Next up, though, is a first-person action RPG. Arkane Lyon, meanwhile, is working on Marvel's Blade following 2021's warmly received Deathloop.

After Microsoft closed Arkane Austin, Redfall dev says the response to "the cleaned-up, final version" of the doomed FPS gave him "a burst of energy."