Arkane: We'll move on from EA project cuts

Lyon-based Arkane Studios, one of the independent developers hit by EA's recent announcement of staff and project cuts, has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company is ready to move on from the set-back, and that the overarching economic situation could actually benefit indies in the long term.

"We're moving on," said CEO and creative director Raphael Colantonio. "We do have some reserves, some cash that allows us to wait for a while, to find deals and reassign staff. But the right deals - that's really important, to keep the vision of what our objective is as a company, and what our identity is.

"The context right now - the climate, everybody is looking at making sure they'll be profitable, or at least get through the crisis, and we're just one of them. We want to make sure things go fine with us.

But Colantonio, while admitting that the situation was disappointing, was upbeat on the company's future.

"The positive side is that we have the capacity to work on other projects now. To some degree, although it sounds like a bit of a paradox, all these publishers cutting things right now - I think it will eventually benefit the independent developers.

"Those companies will be looking for projects, and if they're looking, rightly, to lower their costs it makes sense to work with independent companies - they're always cheaper than anything they can produce internally."

Arkane Studios currently employs 45 production staff and was previously responsible for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic and Arx Fatalis.