Branding it an “unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by Microsoft’s ‘infinite money’,” Colantonio believes that at some point “reality has to hit.” “I don’t think Game Pass can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else or give up.”

Responding to Michael Douse, director of publishing on Baldur’s Gate 3, who said the “infinite money thing never made any sense,” Colantonio said, “I agree, and I’m fed up with all the BS they fed us at first like ‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t impact the sales’, only to admit years later that it totally does. ‘No s*** it does! Really?'”

Douse did highlight how it could help provide recognition for “smaller teams with new or riskier IPs,” but preferred Sony’s “lifecycle management strategy.” Colantonio responded, “The only way Game Pass can co-exist without hurting everyone is for the back catalogue.”

While Game Pass started with much fanfare, its subscription numbers have slowed over the years. Despite this, PC Game Pass subscriptions still grew by over 30 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. Furthermore, developers like Rebellion have noted the service’s role in making its new title Atomfall a success. Pocketpair even highlighted how it’s “very worth” having your title on Game Pass after the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Of course, whether the shoe will drop and developers aren’t offered as lucrative deals to bring their titles to Game Pass remains to be seen. For the time being, Microsoft shows no signs of stopping its own titles from launching on day one for the service. However, Phil Spencer said the company doesn’t want it to replace the practice of owning games. Head here for more details.

As caught by RockPaperShotgun, Colantonio spoke on a recent episode of the Quad Damage Podcast when asked about sequels to the Prey and Dishonored games. While he didn’t express any interest in a new game in the Prey series, Colantonio was keen on working on a hypothetical Dishonored 3.

“I’d love to,” said Colantonio. “I mean, we’re talking totally hypothetically at this point – I could see myself working on Dishonored 3 right now because it’s been so long that, you know, why not?”

He mentioned that quite a few of the developers at Arkane had their own ideas for a new game in the Dishonored franchise, including Deathloop director Dinga Bkaba and Dishonored creator Harvey Smith. However, since these are just ideas for now and haven’t even been pitched as of yet, Colantonio doesn’t believe there is much of a point in talking about a Dishonored 3 at this stage.

“I don’t think it would make sense to talk about it,” Colantonio continued. “Which of those three versions will ever see the day, now we’re talking about science fiction at this point. So many of the people [that worked on the series] are scattered around, and Harvey is not at Arkane any more. I’m not at Arkane, and Dinga is working on Blade.”

The first Dishonored game, back when it came out in 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, essentially put Arkane on the map after the studio had previously worked on niche titles like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Dishonored was able to successfully combine an oppressive visual style in the vein of Half-Life 2 with the stealth-based gameplay of the Thief franchise and some of the more fanciful abilities you’d see in titles like System Shock 2.

Its sequel, Dishonored 2, was also a critical success. The game was especially praised for the wide variety of powers that players could get access to, as well as intricate level design that still hasn’t been seen in other games since then.

While Arkane Lyon, the studio that worked on Deathloop, is currently working on Marvel’s Blade, the game is still some time away. Back in December, reports indicated that the studio was internally aiming to launch it in 2027 “at the earliest.”

Arkane Austin, on the other hand, was part of a host of studio closures at Microsoft last year. The studio was joined by Tango Gameworks, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Studios. Bikaba has previously called the closure of these studios “absolutely terrible.” He also called out company executives for making developers’ work environments “Darwinist jungles.”

For more details, check out our coverage of the closure of Arkane Austin. In the meantime, also check out our review of Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

“Partnering with a studio brimming with incredible talent at WolfEye is a timely and strategic fit for us,” says Seungchul Kim, co-CEO of NEOWIZ. “This collaboration reaffirms our commitment to delivering remarkable story-driven games that resonate with gamers worldwide on PC and console platforms.”

“We have a burning passion for making a very specific type of game that blends RPG, action and simulation,” said creative director and studio president Raphael Colantonio. “These games can only be successful when the publisher shares that same passion.”

“With NEOWIZ, we found a partner that truly understands our vision and is as committed as we are to delivering a unique, creative and memorable game experience that will appeal both to our long-term fans and new players alike,” said Julien Roby, CEO and executive producer at WolfEye.

Colantonio – formerly the boss of Arkane Studios and known for his work on Dishonored and Prey – has said fans of his past games will be happy with the upcoming title. Little else is known about the game, but WolfEye Studios did showcase a batch of in-game screenshots last year. Check them out through here.

WolfEye and NEOWIZ have also released three new pieces of concept art to offer another glimpse at the setting. You can view them below.

While some pointed at the failure of Redfall as the reason for the latter’s closure, former Arkane president and founder Raphael Colantino still feels it was “not a good decision.”

“I think if you look a little bit, it’s obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group that made some cool things and could pull it off again. I think it was a decision that came down to, ‘We need to cut something.’ Was it to please the investors, the stock market? They’re playing a different game,” said Colantino to PC Gamer.

Having left Arkane in 2017 and established WolfEye Studios, which released Weird West in 2022 (and is seemingly working on a new sci-fi RPG), Colantino says it’s “hard to know” why Microsoft shut down the studio. “The rules that they play, we might not understand them. It’s a different thing. It’s hard to know why they did what they did. The only thing that I stand by is saying that the specific choice of killing Arkane Austin was not a good decision.”

He also feels that recreating the studio’s magic will be impossible. “Recreating a very special group like that is, I would dare to say, impossible. 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?”

Though Arkane Austin is gone, Tango Gameworks was saved by Krafton, which acquired it and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Microsoft. The publisher has since hyped Hi-Fi Rush 2 as somewhat of an open-world experience with more “dynamic” environments. Work paused on the sequel due to Tango’s closure, but it will resume “soon.” Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

Taking to Twitter, WolfEye Studios shared three screenshots of its project. As previously confirmed, it’s going to be a first-person action RPG immersive sim, and true to prior leaks, the new screenshots also confirm a retro sci-fi setting for the game. It definitely still seems to be sharing at least a little bit of Weird West’s aesthetic, while also seemingly having a little bit in common with Fallout’s look. Check out the screenshots below.

WolfEye Studios has said that it’s going to be talking more about its next title in soon, which will hopefully also entail a full reveal. With Gamescom coming up at the end of this month, maybe that’s where we’ll see the game in action. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Taking to Twitter, WolfEye Studios and Colantonio both recently confirmed that new details on their next title will be revealed “in a few days”. 

WolfEye Studios has also confirmed – true to previous reports – that the title is going to be a first-person action RPG, as opposed to Weird West, which was an isometric title. Colantonio, meanwhile, has also indicated that the game is going to be similar to the first-person titles he worked on while at Arkane, including the likes of Dishonored and Prey. 

“Fans of the previous 1st person games I was involved with (Dishonored and Prey) will be happy,” he wrote.

With Gamescom coming up towards the end of this month, there’s a good chance that that’s where we’ll be learning more about WolfEye Studios’ next title, though that is just a guess at this point. Either way, new information should be arriving sooner rather than later, so stay tuned for further updates.

Caught by VGC, studio head and creative director Colantonio recently took to Twitter to drop seemingly inconspicuous teases of WolfEye Studios’ next game, which he is currently pitching to publishers at GDC. Interestingly enough, an image accompanying one of the tweets shows artwork for the mystery project and displays the words “retro sci-fi RPG”. Meanwhile, text on a whiteboard in a picture in another tweet also suggests the game will be a first-person experience.

How long it’ll be before WolfEye Studios is ready to unveil its sophomore project remains to be seen, but it should be interesting to see how the developer transitions from Weird West’s top-down perspective to a first-person one in a new sci-fi setting. Hopefully, we’ll be getting more details on the game in the not-too-distant future.

https://twitter.com/rafcolantonio/status/1770082408148406301

https://twitter.com/rafcolantonio/status/1770453683043725444

The Callisto Protocol is playable on both PS4 and PS5 and serves as a new sci-fi survival horror from the creator of Dead Space. It sees Jacob Lee trying to escape Black Iron Prison as its inhabitants morph into horrifying creatures. Despite its gorgeous visuals, the gameplay and story received criticism – check out our review here for more details.

Farming Simulator 22 is the 2021 iteration of Giants Software’s long-running farming franchise (superior to the horrid Farming Simulator 23). Weird West is an action RPG from WolfEye Studios with multiple playable characters and immersive sim elements, led by Dishonored co-creator Raphaël Colantonio. Both titles are also playable on PS4 and PS5.

Taking to Twitter in the wake of a leaked Switch listing for the game on Amazon, Devolver Digital has announced that Weird West: Definitive Edition is indeed coming to the Nintendo Switch. When exactly will that happen? The company hasn’t announced a release date just yet, but asks fans to “keep a look on the horizon”.

A Devolver Direct showcase has been confirmed for June, so it’s possible we’ll hear more about the immersive sim action RPG’s Switch release then.

Weird West is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Read our review of the game through here.

Hot damn, we got retail leaked!

Weird West: Definitive Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch though we aren’t sure when quite yet.

Keep a look on the horizon, gunslinger. https://t.co/pz6AuppWyC

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) May 22, 2023

As spotted by Gematsu on Twitter, Weird West has received a classification rating for the Nintendo Switch in Germany (screencap below), suggesting that an announcement for a Switch port of the action RPG could be on the horizon. The timing of its rating would suggest that it could be fairly close to launch, though of course, in the absence of any official word from Devolver Digital or developer WolfEye Studios, that remains little more than speculation for now. That said, a Devolver Direct has been confirmed for June, so maybe that’ll be changing in the not-too-distant future.

In our review of Weird West upon its launch last year, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Densely packed with ingenious systems, Weird West is a game of endless possibilities that encourages player choice and agency in a way very few other games do, and reacts to your actions across every level of interactivity. Fans of immersive sims and action RPGs won’t want to miss this.” Read the full review through here.

Weird West is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.