Dishonored Franchise Not “On Hold,” Says Developer

The first Dishonored was a game that took many by surprise. It’s immersive sim style brought a lot of different choices in how you could tackle the game, alongside an intriguing alternate history story. The sequel was critically well-received, but there were reports that the game didn’t do as well as expected, and since the single player expansion to Dishonored 2, Death of the Outsider, nothing has been heard about the franchise. Despite that, developer Arkane said the series hasn’t actually been put on ice just yet.

Talking to IGN, Co-Creative Director Dinga Bakaba said that some previous comments made about the game were taken the wrong way. What Bakaba is referring to is comments in 2018 by Arkane Lead Designer Ricardo Bare about how the series was going to be “resting for now.” He says that the statement wasn’t meant to be taken to the extreme it was, and that just because there were no current plans, it didn’t mean the series was being put on any type of official hiatus.

“Well, first of all, it’s weird because for us as a studio, we never did a sequel to a game we made before. It was interesting to make and everything. But the rumors of putting the IP on hold was highly exaggerated and was misquoted,” he said.

“You know, it’s not necessarily the same thing when you are talking about what could be done, and you are telling a journalist it’s not what we are doing right now. It’s really not the same thing. So, I don’t think there was a decision to put Dishonored series on hold. I think the initial quote was over interpreted.”

As of now, the studio has a new title in the works called Deathloop, which was revealed at last year’s E3. It was scheduled to be at this year’s show, but nothing has been said about it since E3’s cancellation. Bethesda has largely stopped sharing sales numbers, so it’s hard to say how Dishonored 2 did overall by now, but it seems at the very least it’s not as dead as once thought.