Colantonio on Arkane: "it's time for me to leave"

We talked to the outgoing company president about his upcoming departure.

As we reported earlier this week, Raphael Colantonio has announced his intention to leave the company he founded almost twenty years ago, Arkane Studios. Following that announcement, we spoke to the outgoing president at Gamelab Barcelona, and his upcoming departure was obviously the first topic up for discussion.

"I need to get some time off to decide really what I want to do next," Colantonio told us in Catalonia. "I've been doing these games for such a long time now, and I just want to take a real long vacation, which I never had a chance to have in 18 years."

Colantonio is leaving the company so he can "focus on my own projects, on my son, you know, on playing music; smaller things that are just going to make me happy."

As previously reported, Harvey Smith will remain in charge of Arkane Austin, while Colantonio will stay at Lyon until the studio has smoothly transitioned into its new leadership setup.

What both studios will be working on in the long-term remains unclear, though. Standalone expansion Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is on the horizon, and the studio has already hinted at DLC plans for Prey. Of course he didn't give anything away beyond what's already publicly known, but naturally they "have plans for both sides."

Prey (left) and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (right).

Finally, Colantonio had this to say to fans of the studio.

"Arkane has been around for 18 years, we've had ups and downs, and it's really part of the - I wouldn't say even ups and downs, I would say lefts and rights - it's part of the industry, it's part of the process. And, you know, 18 years after that, it's time for me to leave.

"It doesn't mean that things are not going keep going with Arkane. Zenimax and Bethesda are very confident in the capacity of Arkane to make great games, and the guys at Arkane are very capable.

"I'll be around for a while, and I wish everybody the best, and I'm sure there's many more Arkane games to play, and I'll be one of their first fans."

Watch the full interview below for Colantonio's thoughts on the biggest challenges of working in the industry, as well as his reflections on the launch of Prey, and the importance of both level design and storytelling.