Arkane outed, adds US studio

By Staff, GameSpotPosted Jul 6, 2006 11:37 am PT

France-based studio, long intending to open a US studio, takes steps with new Austin location.

Arx Fatalis creators, Lyon, France-based Arkane Studios, has been sighted in Austin, Texas. Enthusiast site FiringSquad outed the long-standing plans of Arkane CEO and creative director Raphael Colantinio to seek funding and land on US shores.

Recently, Colantinio has been a regular on the game conference circuit, quietly talking up his designs to open a satellite studio.

Arkane was founded in 1999 and made early waves with its medieval-fantasy role-playing game Arx Fatalis. The PC title was picked up by Jowood as its publisher; the Xbox version was later published by DreamCatcher.

Currently, the studio is creating Dark Messiah of Might and Magic with Ubisoft as its publishing partner. The game, due later this year, is built on Valve's Source engine.

10 Comments

  • Sandman100

    Posted Jul 7, 2006 9:49 am PT

    Great.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    so what does outed mean

  • XXJGeneration

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 2:59 pm PT

    What are you talking about Mech? The Source Engine is still one of the finest engines to date. It looks good even when your not on a high end PC, has excellent physics and still has so much potential to dig up.

  • juggernaut8419

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 1:40 pm PT

    Mechakucha - Stopped being impressive in 2005 and they should have used a different engine eh? First of all the game was announced in 2005. At which point you still found the Source engine impressive. Secondly, I will have to disagree with the Source engine being a bad choice. It is a physics based engine and they wanted to have some physics style game play. Lastly, complaining about them not making their own engine is just silly. It cuts time off the development cycle and a lot of companies do this. It has nothing to do with not being able to make their own. They just chose an alternate path.

  • Mechakucha

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:45 pm PT

    Zeraquor - yeah, of course. I guess I wasn't being too clear. To clarify: I could understand using the unreal 3 engine, but the source engine stopped being impressive in 2005. I guess it was the only one they could afford or something.

  • bossjimbob

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:42 pm PT

    Licensing an engine is a fast and efficient way to build a game. In the long run it can save time and money. There's nothing wrong with doing it.

  • Zeraquor

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:28 pm PT

    eh mechakucha, lots of the companies buy other's engines, like the source or unreal engine for example

  • mrhankeydinks

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 11:49 am PT

    I hope the game performs beter on their modified source engine than valves own games do.

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 11:45 am PT

    Well thats cool to see more game studio's opening in the US.Plus Dark Messiah of Might and Magic will be a fun game.

  • Mechakucha

    Posted Jul 6, 2006 11:44 am PT

    Wow, they can't even make their own engines. Guess it's good that more companies are coming here though.

Arx Fatalis Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum

advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Arx Fatalis Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Arx Fatalis

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    1,831 of 84,347
    (down by 171)
    PC Rank:
    731 of 12,827
    Tracking:
    614 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    204 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    22
    Player Ratings:
    890
    Users Now Playing:
    87
  • Number of Players:

    1 Player

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. rpg
    2. arkane studios
    3. arx fatalis
    4. jowood productions
    5. jowood
  • Mature Rating Description

    Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games