Dishonored Born From Failed Thief 4 and Blade Runner Pitches

Former Arkane Studios developers Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith said the game Dishonored resulted from failed pitches for other projects.

This revelation provides a rare glimpse into the iterative nature of game design, showing how rejected intellectual properties can evolve into successful new franchises. The transition from licensed concepts to original world-building allowed the team to create a unique identity for their work.

Colantonio and Smith said the studio originally attempted to create a sequel to Thief around 2009–2010 ^[1]. When that project fell apart, the developers repurposed the core ideas. "We were trying to make a sequel to Thief, but the project fell apart and the ideas morphed into Dishonored," Colantonio said.

In addition to the Thief 4 concept, the team developed a pitch inspired by Blade Runner. While that project also failed to reach production, it left a lasting mark on the final product. Smith said the Blade Runner-style pitch provided much of the cyberpunk aesthetic that later appeared in the world-building of Dishonored.

These failed attempts were essential to the eventual creation of the game, which released in 2012 ^[1]. The developers said that the specific combination of stealth mechanics from the Thief pitch, and the visual style from the Blade Runner pitch, formed the foundation of the title.

Smith said that the success of the earlier pitches would have fundamentally changed the studio's trajectory. "If those pitches had succeeded, we probably would never have made Dishonored," Smith said.

The comments were shared in a feature by Polygon, which detailed how the team navigated internal rejections to build an original universe from the remnants of abandoned licensed projects.