Microsoft axes four game studios including Hi-Fi Rush developer

Microsoft is shutting four studios, including Tango Gameworks, the developers of Bafta award-winning Hi-Fi Rush.

The Tokyo studio is being closed alongside Texas-based Arkane Austin and Canadian developer Alpha Dog Studios.

Wisconsin-based Roundhouse Games will be absorbed into Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios.

Microsoft has not said how many jobs will be cut as a result of the closures, which are all being made at subsidiary Bethesda - which the tech giant bought for $7.5bn (then £5.85bn) in 2020.

"I just want to say that I love all the people at Arkane Austin so much," said studio head Harvey Smith in a post on X, external.

"Great times, hard times, we went through so much, together."

Head of Xbox Games Studios Matt Booty announced the news in an email to staff, seen by the BBC.

He said the move meant it was ending development on Arkane Austin game Redfall, with "some members of the team" joining other studios.

The company plans to “provide make-good offers” to players who had pre-ordered downloadable content for the game that will now never see the light of day.

“These changes are grounded in prioritising high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades,” he wrote.

He said there would also be "a small number of roles" cut across Bethesda's publishing and corporate teams.

'A gut stab'

Hi-Fi Rush was much admired by critics when it was released in 2023 - the game went on to win several end-of-year awards for its animation and sound design.

But alarm bells began ringing at Tango Gameworks after it was among the four games Microsoft released on rival consoles this year.

Its founder, Shinji Mikami, had already left to start his own rival studio.

The closure of Tango Gameworks means an end to the studio responsible for several popular games, including The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo.

In a short post on X, formerly Twitter, the developer thanked its fans.

"Thank you to everyone who explored the worlds we created," it said, external.

The move has been met with criticism from gamers as well as those within the company, with Dinga Bakaba, the studio head of Arkane Austin sister studio Arkane Lyon, calling the cuts "absolutely terrible".

"Permission to be human: to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you," he wrote on X.

"For now, great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it's a gut stab."

It is the latest string of cuts to come in an industry that has already seen tens of thousands of jobs lost, with Bethesda itself already facing cuts announced in January 2024.

At that point, Microsoft had around 22,000 people working in its gaming division.

BBC News
Archive [May 7 2024]

 

[kcbbq]

Ah, Arkane. Either Lyon or Austin, overrated by people who think Immersive Sim isn't a generic word that describes nothing about the game they're referencing, used only by pretentious Youtube faggots.

View attachment 5969921
So of the many games, Prey is the only good thing Austin made, and even then it was a shitty System Shock 2 ripoff. Redfall... no introduction. And Prey, despite the praise after it was relegated to the bargain bin of Steam Sales, sold very poorly. Can't imagine why Bethesda sent them to the same killing fields EA left studios like Pandemic in.

Ubisoft getting Might & Magic in the 3DO fire sale and then pissing on the $1.3million they spent will never not be hilarious. Tragically hilarious.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

Ubisoft getting Might & Magic in the 3DO fire sale and then pissing on the $1.3million they spent will never not be hilarious. Tragically hilarious.

Man, my favorite 3DO property was Army Men, who got sold to Global SoftWare, released the Shadow the Hedgehog tier Sarges War (still fun but my god the edge) and then got absorbed by... 2k.
Last Army Men game was seven years ago and a mobile game, haha, FUCK

 

[Retink Retunk]

So the games division of Microsoft is becoming EA. Buying up studios and spitting them out after taking their games and ips.

Buy Blizzard, keep the IPs, ditch the troons, seems like a good policy.

 

[RA-5C Vigilante]

Ubisoft getting Might & Magic in the 3DO fire sale and then pissing on the $1.3million they spent will never not be hilarious. Tragically hilarious.

Man, my favorite 3DO property was Army Men, which went to Global Star Software, who released the Shadow the Hedgehog tier Sarges War (still loved it, but my lord the edge) before completely abandoning it. The last Army Men game was seven years ago and a microtransaction filled mobile game, haha FUCK

 

[frozen_runner]

No, it should be based on the actual content you brainrotted Neanderthal.

What you have to look forward to: a series you love, created by actual people with some kind of vision to express, bastardized into a mere brand by a giant publisher who buys up properties, hands them to random devs (who are always "big fans" of those properties) who make official trash, and that kills the series because, the publisher ultimately concludes, nobody likes that series anymore.

I can count on one hand the number of times a great game series has completely changed hands and has been worthwhile afterwards. For every miracle like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you have dozens and dozens of middling-to-awful studios like 343 Industries who run once-great franchises into the ground and don't produce a single noteworthy game during the process.

All commercial entertainment sits at the intersection of art and product. But you can have something inspired like Silent Hill, or you can have branded garbage like... everything that came after the Japanese games. Because the people who make something great are responsible for that thing being great, not the fucking brand name. That was the point being made.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

the theory that Microsoft is cutting down cost/man power to have Bethesda shill out elder scroll 6 and fallout 5 ASAP seems more believable now.

seems they going to increasing the cost of gamepass as well.

 

[Mordecai "3 Finger" Brown]

Alpha Dog is some mobile developer under Zenimax that made "Mighty Doom," so I'll be callous and say no real loss there.

Historically, Alpha Dog Games has developed games such as Wraithborne (Action-RPG) and MonstroCity: Rampage (Action-Strategy)

Alpha Dog appears to be based in Nova Scotia, which is a Canadian backwater.

They presumably were backed by government money, which means their output was sanitized.

 

[Snekposter]

Rune 2

How fucking badly do you have to fuck up to be completely taken off the Steam store?

Tango hurts the most for me, I loved the Evil Within series and always hoped there would be a third game. Guess that's off the table now. Ghostwire Tokyo was also fun, sad won't get to see the planned sequel.

Yup, would have loved a third Evil Within, but I felt Ghostwire was a nice complete story. Everything got wrapped up at the end, which is what you'd expect about a story focused on closure and letting go. Any potential sequel should have been completely separate save for the gameplay and themes. Maybe bring back the autist who only spoke through recorded messages since he was the only guy aside from the protag who didn't die.

Man, my favorite 3DO property was Army Men, who got sold to Global SoftWare, released the Shadow the Hedgehog tier Sarges War (still fun but my god the edge) and then got absorbed by... 2k.
Last Army Men game was seven years ago and a mobile game, haha, FUCK

TTD: Total Tan Death.