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

vaibhavpisal

vaibhavpisal

Member
Damn, Arkane Austin made my favourite game last gen.

HshbtjY.gif


Also enjoyed HiFi Rush a lot. RIP.
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Mibu no ookami said:
My point was that once Shinji Mikami left, people would leave with him and that Microsoft would struggle to recruit people to generally make Xbox games and games that would end up on GamePass Day 1.
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I honestly don't think it's because of GP. Just look at Manor Lords, Palworld, Sea of Thieves, and many more. This is probably the only example ever of a studio with a game on GP that has closed. What we've seen instead is that they get at least some money even if the game underperforms, like Exoprimal.

I think this is about Ghostwire, and Hi-Fi Rush performance on PS also. It's not a coincidence this is weeks after it came out on PS5. I still blame MS for their short sighted and terrible decision here, but this isn't telling me it's exclusively a GP issue at all.

As for ability to recruit people, maybe that is it. There is weird stuff going on with that studio in general we may not know about. Shinji leaving, Nakamura leaving. It's just weird.
 
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Bojanglez

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Microsoft is a big corporation, they are not driven by niche critically acclaimed games. Same goes for Sony and why they have seemingly stopped trying to make anything other than AAA games that can be 'franchises'. It is unfortunate, but in this instance it was a fairly predictable by-product of their acquisitions. I hope all the industry consolidation advocates are happy. Hopefully a place like Tango will just spin up a new studio and can be run in an independent and sustainable way.

Also, maybe the closing of Tango is just clearing the board ready for the SEGA acquisition tomorrow :messenger_beaming:.
 
D

Desprado123

Member
This is not a shock for me at least to be honest.

A company, which cannot utilize ID tech 7 engine properly, did not show any interest in making Quake remake, Wolstein and Doom sequel is bound to be failed.
 
lh032

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best said:
This industry is fuked. The console industry, that is (outside of Nintendo).

Seriously, out of nowhere, this. Arkane Austin I can understand; RedFail was a disaster and no one was gonna play it even if they ported it to other platforms. But didn't Good Guy Phil™ just tout how happy they were with HiFi Rush's critical acclaim? Didn't the Xbox fanbase do the same? It was also one of the first games to get ported over. Microsoft's only internal Japanese dev team....gone, just like that. You can kiss that rumored JRPG goodbye as well, from the sounds of it.

I always knew this type of thing was going to happen with a once-platform holder basically going 3P. Happened with SEGA, happened with Atari, happened with SNK, happened with 3DO etc. But to shut down Tango Gameworks is crazy. That was one of the better Zenimax studios, and added some much-needed variety in Microsoft's output. Very easy now to see why Shinji Mikami left; he literally saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to be out of work once the studio was closed. Considering everything he went through to establish Tango, not to mention cultivate the talent, this one must really hurt for him.

But don't worry, I'm sure some of our swell pals on the Purple Forum will "acktwually" explain why this isn't such a bad thing. I'm sure Vigilante Joker is polishing the final edit of his pitch right now. I hope those 🤡who were capping for the ABK acquisition feel their much-deserved shame and realize how utterly moronic they actually were the entire time.
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this has nothing to do with console industry, game studio close left and right.
Either Sony/Microsoft close game studio, or the game studio close itself.

Its way too risky to open a game studio, make new IP with new ideas . Its not sustainable.

IMO, publishers like Sony or Microsoft only "extend" the life of a game studio.
 
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D

Darsxx82

Member
Topher said:
JPwqD6U.png


Basically, no more small games.
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It is clearly what those words and the closed studios specifically indicate.... These are words copied from those of TakeTwo a week ago and EA a month ago.

It sounds like Bethesda/Zenimax as a factory for Fallout, TES, and other Big/successful Bethesda IPs and closing the tap on any small, creative and risky investment.

It's something like "for small and risky projects, there are Studios Indi and ID@Xbox publishing."
 
Saber

Saber

Member
T4keD0wN said:
To be fair according to that ign report at least some of the Arkane devs will move to their other studios and Roundhouse seems to be absorbed by the Elder Scrolls Online studio, situation is bad, but not that bad.
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This is a part of the strategy some big corpos employs dude. They never really wanted a company or a group of developers, just one or two people or/and the IPs. With the best ones from the group the rest can never be the same again and you never know what roles the ones they picked will ever have any big influence on games.
 
digoutyoursoul

digoutyoursoul

Member
Kacho said:
As a former ride or die Xbro, I'm right there with you. Breaks my heart to see Xbox fall this far. Hard to believe people still beat the drum for them.
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Nothing gets better when people tell you that you can do no wrong.

All jokes aside I hope my fellow green brothers and sisters cut this crap . If you’re a fan of something surely they can do better than this.

You watch, Hellblade 2 will review well and all is forgiven. Not to mention the showcase, double down on hype and praise.

Same circle of shite time and again
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Ass of Can Whooping said:
They probably were at the start of Redfall. Game should have been cancelled and then reached back out to the OGs and get them back on board.
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Trend chasing is probably the best descriptor, it was greenlit at the time when a lot of publishers had the sudden urge to make forced co-op games like Wolfenstein Youndblood, Far Cry: New Dawn etc.
 
Sleepwalker

Sleepwalker

Member
Closing Tango seems to me so hilariously stupid that i'm not surprised. Fucking bizarro land over there at MS.

Remember all the fuss made about how they finally got their hands on a japanese studio via de bethesda merger? Pepperidge farm members
 
Bkdk

Bkdk

Member
Basically what's left for bethesda will be elder scrolls, ninja theory will very likely be on the next in line to be sunsetted, that game has no hype at all, especially not after stellar blade when people compare the two protag designs.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
Darsxx82 said:
It is clearly what those words and the closed studios specifically indicate.... These are words copied from those of TakeTwo a week ago and EA a month ago.

It sounds like Bethesda/Zenimax as a factory for Fallout, TES, and other Big/successful Bethesda IPs and closing the tap on any small, creative and risky investment.

It's something like "for small and risky projects, there are Studios Indi and ID@Xbox publishing."
Click to expand...

The fcked up part is, this is a $3 trillion corporation we're dealing with here. They shouldn't have to use financial risk as a reason to shutter ALL internal creative/oddball game development. They more than have the money to cover that development. Budgets for those types of games would be small compared to the big AAA blockbusters, and they'd recoup the costs & make some profits porting to as many platforms as possible.

Once again, shareholder greed deals another nail in the industry's coffin.
 
fart town usa

fart town usa

Member
Breaking my self-imposed no posting outside PSVR2 OT to chime in; closing Tango is absolute bullshit. I will never buy anything related to Xbox/MS ever again. Not that I did much anyways but I am absolutely done with that company. Tango was so damn good. What an effing joke. 😭😭😭😭
 
A

acm2000

Member
arkane austin - no shock what so ever
alpha dog - odd studio doing odd things so not surprising
roundhouse - not really closing just being absorbed
tango - weird one, hifi rush is incredible but all their other games are a bit... meh, feel they deserved at least one more chance tho
 
GHG

GHG

Member
Punished Miku said:
I honestly don't think it's because of GP. Just look at Manor Lords, Palworld, Sea of Thieves, and many more. This is probably the only example ever of a studio with a game on GP that has closed. What we've seen instead is that they get at least some money even if the game underperforms, like Exoprimal.

I think this is about Ghostwire, and Hi-Fi Rush performance on PS also. It's not a coincidence this is weeks after it came out on PS5. I still blame MS for their short sighted and terrible decision here, but this isn't telling me it's exclusively a GP issue at all.

As for ability to recruit people, maybe that is it. There is weird stuff going on with that studio in general we may not know about. Shinji leaving, Nakamura leaving. It's just weird.
Click to expand...

Stockholm syndrome.

All of the games you listed have been successes on platforms/storefronts not owned by Microsoft and have nothing to do with gamepass since people purchased those games.
 
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Roberts

Roberts

Member
This is absolutely terrible. I feel bad for everybody, but especially John Johanas who is becoming one of the most interesting game directors out there. Losing him is simply idiotic.
 
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