Before creating Dishonored, Arkane Studios was offered the chance by Bethesda to develop either Thief 4 or a Blade Runner game amid financial struggles at the studio [1, 2, 3, 4]. Bethesda approached Arkane as a way to rescue the company by granting access to these high-profile intellectual properties [1, 2, 4]. Raphael Colantonio led the Thief 4 project team and expressed excitement, saying, "I was so excited and, you know, we were in such a dire situation business-wise, and they came up not only to save us from business, but also to bring frankly the IP that I would have liked to work on the most" [1]. Meanwhile, Harvey Smith, a big Blade Runner fan, led the Blade Runner project team [1, 2, 3, 4]. Smith recalled, "We had an amazing pitch for Thief. Would have been Thief 4–" and described the choice as "like coming to two cats and saying, 'We have a big bag of catnip here on the one side. We have another bag of catnip here. Which one do you want? You want both?'" [1, 2].
Arkane developed extensive pitch materials for both projects. For Thief 4, this included concept videos, while the Blade Runner pitch featured early 3D animations and story concepts, including replicants with abilities beyond humans and elements like the Esper computer [1, 2, 4]. However, Bethesda ultimately failed to secure the rights to develop games based on either Thief or Blade Runner for Arkane [1, 3, 4].
With the loss of both projects, Arkane feared Bethesda might cancel their deal. Instead, Bethesda encouraged them to continue with their own original project, which became Dishonored [1, 3, 4]. Colantonio recalled Bethesda saying, "It's okay, keep what you're doing and call it Dishonored" [1]. Colantonio and Smith co-directed Dishonored, blending elements from their previous project efforts [1, 3, 4]. Colantonio said, "There was a little bit of a competition in a way, because even though we wanted what was best for the company, I would have been devastated if it was Blade Runner" [4].
During this period, Arkane Studios was acquired by Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax in 2010 [3]. Dishonored was ultimately released after the rights deal failures, establishing Arkane's new original franchise.
