The game was first announced on 9 January 2007,[1][2][3][4][5][6] but put "on hold" on 15 May 2009 after the company ran into "an unexpected financial challenge" and decided to focus on smaller projects.

The Crossing was to be a first-person shooter which supported a narrative-driven single-player game, but with the player's opponents replaced by human-controlled agents via a multi-player system, an approach called "crossplayer" by Arkane.

Colantonio brought in Viktor Antonov, an artist that had been working for Valve and had helped Arkane with the Source engine during their development of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006).

[10] As a backstory, they envisioned a world where scientists had developed time travel through various portals, and used it to change the past and create alternate dimensions in the present, then taking the best of technology advancements from that to improve the original reality.

The player discovers that Knights Templar with high-tech weapons have invaded Paris, and would be forced to find the portal to try to set things right.

[10] Colantonio decided after six months that they were not going to be able to achieve the vision they wanted with The Crossing, and ceased negotiations with the publisher, effectively shelving the game.

[10] While The Crossing never came to fruition, Colantonio said that it was an important foundation of Arkane Studio as it helped with team-building, establishing a vision for their own IP, and the processes needed to carry that out, which they used in building the Dishonored series.