Arkane Studios

Background
Arkane Studios is a French game developer founded in Lyon, France on October 1, 1999 by Raphaël Colantonio and several other developers from both Electronic Arts and Infogrames, with their first release being the critically-acclaimed yet commercial failure Arx Fatalis in 2002. Another studio would open in Austin, Texas in 2006. After a string of cancelled projects, including the Half-Life spinoff Return To Ravenholm and LMNO with EA and director Steven Spielberg, as well as primarily taking up assisting roles with games such as Call of Duty: World At War and BioShock 2, Arkane would be purchased by Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media in 2010, who in turn would be purchased by Microsoft and become a part of Xbox Game Studios in 2021. Since then, Arkane has become best known for the Dishonored series, the 2017 version of Prey, and Deathloop.

1st Logo (June 28, 2002, December 21, 2003)
Logo: On a black background, we see a design consisting of a boomerang-like shape (a circle with two blades coming out of either end), with a stylized letter 'A' that moreso resembles an unfinished drawing of a five-pointed star inside the middle. On either side of the circle is the name 'ARKANE STUDIOS' in Broadband Regular.

Variant: An animated variant exists on the Xbox version of Arx Fatalis, in which we fade into a sand-covered background. The boomerang lands on the surface as dust forms and the screen shakes, with the letters of the company name jumping abruptly out of the sand. The logo then fades to the white print logo on a black background.

FX/SFX: None for the standard logo. For the animated variant, the boomerang hitting the sand, the screen shakes, the name appearing, and the fade.

Music/Sounds: We hear the sound of a boomerang spinning, then a loud thump as it lands. A whirring sound that almost sounds like a lion's roar is heard when the text appears, with another roar as we transition to the print logo, followed by a heartbeat.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on both the original PC and Xbox versions of Arx Fatalis.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (2016-)
Logo: TBA

Variant: On Prey (2017), after the logo is formed, the "A" abruptly morphs into an alien, which crawls off the screen.

FX/SFX: The animation of the "A", the zoom out. The "A" morphing into an alien on the Prey variant.

Music/Sounds: Two clangs, followed by a electronic whir.

Availability: Seen on Dishonored 2 (along with its stand-alone expansion Death of the Outsider) and the 2017 reboot of Prey.

Editor's Note: None.