Microsoft Closing Some Beloved Studios

Gaming
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Originally published at: https://xboxera.com/2024/05/07/microsoft-closing-some-beloved-studios/

In a new report posted via the folks at IGN, it’s been confirmed that Microsoft has closed a number of studios across the Bethesda studios, closing some beloved studios and saying good bye to a number of long-standing teams.

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In an email obtained and verified by IGN, Matt Booty confirmed the closure of Arkane Austin (Developers of the critically panned Redfall – hey, we liked it!) and Tango Gameworks, developers of the critically acclaimed Hi-fi Rush, which recently released on PlayStation 5 to underwhelming sales.

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Alpha Dog Studios, the team behind mobile game Mighty Doom, are also closing, with the game going dark on August 7th, 2024. Roundhouse Games will be merging with Zenimax Online Studios to assist with The Elder Scrolls Online.

The email, sent to staff internally via Matt Booty, reads as follows:

Today I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.

To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us.
Here are the changes going into effect:

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.

Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to make any purchases in the game.

Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today.
Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world that millions of players call home.

With this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number of roles across select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also be eliminated.

Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified today, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted in today’s notifications and through their transitions, including severance benefits informed by local laws.
These changes are not a reflection of the creativity and skill of the talented individuals at these teams or the risks they took to try new things. I acknowledge that these changes are also disruptive to the various support teams across ZeniMax and Bethesda that bring our games to market. We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.
Bethesda remains one of the key pillars of Xbox with a strong portfolio of amazing games and thriving communities. As we look to the future, there is an impressive line-up of games on the horizon. In 2024 alone we have Starfield Shattered Space, Fallout 76 Skyline Valley, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and The Elder Scrolls Online’s Golden Road. As we align our plans and resources to best set ourselves up for success in this complex and changing industry, our teams across Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will be well-positioned to build new IP, explore new game concepts, and expand on our existing franchises.

– Matt

As noted in the email, players that purchased the “Hero pack” for Redfall will be compensated in another way, with all further development on the game ceasing. Servers will remain live for players to enjoy the game for the foreseeable future.

Tango Gameworks has already publicly responded to the news, releasing a post on social media platform X (Formely Twitter):

pic.twitter.com/KhhqgR902g

— Tango Gameworks (EN) (@TangoGameworks) May 7, 2024

More information as it becomes available…

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https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1787835350745842153

https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1787836112460820692

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Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda - IGN

In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the cuts on a “reprioritization of titles and resources”. The email, verified by IGN, is below:

Today I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.

To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us.

Here are the changes going into effect:

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.

Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to make any purchases in the game.

Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today.

Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world that millions of players call home.

With this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number of roles across select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also be eliminated.

Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified today, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted in today’s notifications and through their transitions, including severance benefits informed by local laws.

These changes are not a reflection of the creativity and skill of the talented individuals at these teams or the risks they took to try new things. I acknowledge that these changes are also disruptive to the various support teams across ZeniMax and Bethesda that bring our games to market. We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.

Bethesda remains one of the key pillars of Xbox with a strong portfolio of amazing games and thriving communities. As we look to the future, there is an impressive line-up of games on the horizon. In 2024 alone we have Starfield Shattered Space, Fallout 76 Skyline Valley, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and The Elder Scrolls Online’s Golden Road. As we align our plans and resources to best set ourselves up for success in this complex and changing industry, our teams across Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will be well-positioned to build new IP, explore new game concepts, and expand on our existing franchises.

  • Matt
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Try gaming industry in general.

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Corporate consolidation is fucking terrible and the more you people cheer on and wish list and fantasize who gets consumed by the corporate maw, the more this medium continues to denigrate into a meaningless product

I am incensed. I have very close friends at Arkane Austin.

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Try Microsoft leadership has evidently took full control and is cutting costs whenever… even the studio which made their highest rated IP of this generation wasn’t safe.

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That’s gaming in general. It’s not exclusive to anyone. That’s the real tragedy.

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why not build and iterate on tango gameworks, the company that brought you .one of your best received titles in a long time

why not keep AAustin to assist with the development of the fucking MArvel game that’s being worked on in Lyon

I don’t understand

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This is disgusting and embarrassing, my faith in the brand has never been so low as it has this year. Just one fuck up after the other. It’s so exhausting being an Xbox fan, we can never get good news in a vacuum, it always has to be tied to something negative immediately before or after it like witht he Januray showcase followed by the multiplat news. How embarrassing of them to sully the brand by porting an Xbox exclusive like Hi-Fi Rush to Playstation for extra sales, only to then shutter the studio a few months later anyways when it wasn’t enough.

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From a pure business perspective, I understand this decision. Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks haven’t produced a commercially successful game in years.

What I don’t understand is Xbox and Phil himself have been banging the drum about improving growth in Japan and creating relationships with Japanese game developers. You literally have one in Tango Gameworks.

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With the focus on sales, it was predictable that Microsoft would close some studios. This should increase in the future with XGS studies. Previously, Game Pass was the focus and objective of a lot of content. Now it’s clear that Microsoft is a sales-oriented publisher. Bethesda suffered a lot from game sales before Microsoft purchased it. My bet is on Microsoft becoming a publisher focused only on large IPs. Unfortunately, the direction Microsoft has been taking. The purchase of ABK was the worst thing that could happen to the Xbox.

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https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/1649431572137779203?t=--iBkeYJmqdxwe-NhDjyBg&s=19

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I thought Gamepass was there to secure that smaller creative games could exist? Also, what does this mean for Double Fine, InXile, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs etc… one failure and you’re out? Especially looking at Hellblade 2 probably not doing that well sales wise. I was sold in a vision for a creative Xbox that evidently doesn’t exist. Also fuck them for all their lies about “job security” during the acquisitions.

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What the actual fuck…

Tango produce one of the games of the year last year, then get shut down when they could be the beachhead into the Japanese gaming industry that Xbox has been looking for?

Alpha Dog I’m guessing means the mobile push has gone badly, and OK Redfall was bad but they weren’t given much to work with so killing Arkane Austin seems rubbish too.

So much for the multi-platform future being to pay for the number of studios they’ve got - either throw much more over the wall (like Forza Horizon 5, which would make a killing) and use it to keep these studios open, or are Xbox really so screwed for money that they need to close these?!

What’s the frickin point of buying a ton of new studios if you’re just going to keep closing them?!

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Ryan of IGN sure got a new question to ask next month.

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I still remember 4-5 years ago, many people thinking (myself included) what could the new acquisitons do with the MS budget etc, oof if i was told we’d get to this point…

Both Hi Fi Rush and Redfall flopped financially, no matter how good or bad these games were.

And talking about flops, Ninja Theory released Bleedin Edge which sold terribly a few years ago, and is about to release Hellblade 2 which is 100% going to flop on sales too.

I’m pretty sure right now, when MS looks at Ninja Theory, all they think of is:

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Its obvious the trajectory… Activision has inherently changed xbox as a division.

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IP over people. Rights ownsership over laborers and artists. you can’t make money off of people.

dogshit industry full of dogshit suits.

But hey CoD on gamepass!!! We won!!!

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Hold on, so some people from Arkane Austin will go to other Xbox studios but none from Tango? What the fuck man.

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Yep, I am out of Xbox.

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Well, this sucks. I think the excitement we all had for MS pouring more resources into all of the teams they have acquired can be put to rest now. Some teams and studios are obviously getting tremendous support, but’s not going to be the case for everyone going forward. I think this last year has been a bit eye opening about the state of the gaming industry, but I certainly didn’t see MS shuttering Tango at the very least.

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