Viktor Antonov was art director on Half Life 2, the main brain behind the look, feel and smell of City 17, yet left Valve prior to the release of Team Fortress 2. To most, Valve is seen as being the pinnacle of game development and anybody who’d choose to leave must be out of their mind, right? Well, maybe not, as Viktor Antonov explained to Eurogamer the reasons behind his departure from Valve, ending up in the muddy waters of Dunwall.
“I went to Valve specifically for Half-Life 2. I went and I collaborated with Arkane to do The Crossing and Dishonored. I put the project above everything else.
“Valve has grown into a much bigger company and what I really enjoy about the philosophy of Arkane is that it’s a small, core team that does risky creative projects. [Valve has] grown now, and I’m interested in a certain level of creative risk taking and a certain energy that can be compared to jazz, jamming or rock n’ roll, where it’s small, it’s intense and it’s about making revolutions in the media.”
Viktor Antonov now works as visual design director for Zenimax, meaning not only has he overseen the creation of Dishonored over its rather impressive three year pre-production period, but also Bethesda, iD and Arkane titles.
Source: Eurogamer.