Dishonored 2 was a critical success but didn't see the kind of commercial turnout that developer Arkane and publisher Bethesda, or parent Zenimax, had been hoping for after the first game actually exceeded expectations. Even so, former Arkane Lyon designer Julien Eveillé says Dishonored gave Arkane "a kind of seal-of-quality protection" that solidified its standing within the Zenimax stable, even when compared to much more profitable hits like Skyrim.
Speaking with PC Gamer, Eveillé, who joined Arkane Lyon during the development of Dishonored 2 in QA, recalls that "I think when Bethesda was looking at the numbers, they thought, OK, Skyrim sold so much. And it cost less than Dishonored 2 to make. So they were asking questions. From an executive spend standpoint, it makes sense to ask those questions of, 'Why should we keep going with you?' But we knew that we had a kind of seal-of-quality protection, making what would maybe be considered the most refined games of the whole Bethesda catalogue."
