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

ShaiKhulud1989

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
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What a day to read old statements
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
Fret Runner said:
What baffles me is how Rare has survived for so long if this is all it takes for them to close studios.
Rare, up until Sea of Thives, did absolutely jack shit aside from some Kinect things, Right? (possibly forgetting something, I admit) especially when compared to their 90s output.

I know times have changed but that's like nearly two decades of doing nothing and managing to still exist.
The big OGs of Rare left years ago so was it just stubbon pride and the namesake that was keeping it alive?
Good to see they seemed to have turned a leaf recently though.
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TBF, MS didn't spend $80 billion in gaming M&As during the time RARE's output was fairly mediocre. And FWIW, Viva Pinata was something of a hit.

Sea of Thieves has bee profitable for years now and has a healthy player community, so RARE's cemented themselves to stick around.

Saber said:
See, don't worry fellas. They already did what they wanted, which is probably just all the IPs. The rest is "expandable".
Wouldn't be surprised if they kill Bethesda entirelly and keep Elder Scrolls for them.
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They won't close Bethesda because then they'd have no one to make the games buggy enough to galvanize the modders to fix the games for free!

Seriously tho, they'd have no suitable studio left to make an Elder Scrolls game, and would have to license it out. Maybe to Larian, if they cared. They sure as hell wouldn't be able to buy Larian though; regulators would audit Microsoft so fast and ask why Bethesda were shut down (and why Microsoft purchased Zenimax if they couldn't keep the main studio around to produce the games they are known for).
 
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Stafford

Stafford

Member
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.



That is one absolute positive to hear in all of this. That MS probably won't be pursuing anymore major gaming acquisitions for a VERRRYYYY long time. So the corporate cheerleading taint-lickers around other parts can STFU about their fantasies for more publisher acquisitions by MS once and for all.

I still think MS might pick up a few studios here and there. Certain Affinity, Crystal Dynamics for example. But it's gonna be at least a good decade if not longer before they even consider eying another gaming publisher. They need to organize and maximize what they've already acquired.

Still though, shutting down Tango Gameworks of all studios is rather insane. They had some of the best potential.
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Bro, I fear for studios like Ninja Theory, Obsidian, Compulsion, Double Fine now.

Not gonna lie.
 
kruis

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
I'd say this is the death of Gamepass as well. MS needs lots of internally developed games each year to make Gamepass an attractive proposition for potential subscribers. So what does it say that MS is now killing off studios after releasing one underperforming game?
 
fart town usa

fart town usa

Member
Stafford said:
Tango only had one misfire and Arkane Austin too. With the only difference between the two being that Arkane Austin many devs left during and after Redfall, correct? So I guess that one isn't super shocking. Tango though, bruh.
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If Ghostwire is the "misfire", it wasn't even a misfire. Got slagged by some reviews over shallow reasons but the game is a dime. I don't expect everyone to love it but it's a quality game through and through with a ton of content and post-launch free content. It will be one of those games that YT will eventually make "Hidden Gem" videos on.
 
Dr. Wilkinson

Dr. Wilkinson

Member
Drop the console warring.
Flabagast said:
Fuck Microsoft
Fuck Xbox fans who support such a shitty company, I despise you
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Oh, fuck this. Like Playstation or any other huge publisher hasn't also done significant cuts of this size or larger, *and recently. I'm so tired of the cherry-picking and the gaslighting. Name one giant publisher this size who hasn't done lay-offs recently. Even Nintendo's done layoffs in the last 2 years.

If you really believed in your own self-imposed boycott, you'd have nothing to play, *and nothing to play on.
 
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THE DUCK

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Kind of interesting how almost nobody vilified Take2 for closing Roll7 just last week, but ms is Satan incarnate for closing Tango. Or when Sony shuttered Deviation games recently without even letting them finish thier project.

Those saying ms bought studios to just "close half of them" are nonsensical.
 
Mibu no ookami

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
TintoConCasera said:
What can we take out of this? That MS is only interested in big games only and not in smaller ones like what Tango was able to output?

That's just so sad if true. When they announced the Activision deal Phil came out on stage with an Hexen II t-shirt, making me guess (or hope) that they were going to revive some of those desd IPs owned by Activision, like Heretic, Hexen, Soldier of Fortune...

Guess all that was fucking nothing and all we'll see from that deal is more COD than ever.
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I don't think this is the takeaway. Microsoft is now pivoting. Their games need to be profitable and outside of GamePass, a model that is likely going to change drastically in the next year or so.

Fewer titles isn't going to make GamePass more appealing to more people, but they need to focus on getting some more successful games out there.

SSfox said:
Microsoft is the worst thing that happened to gaming

And what's even worse is that Sony get inspired by those MS shitty ideas time to time
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I see this take happening a lot. Microsoft and Sony often come to the same conclusions, which is not surprising because logic is logic. Execution and leverage are completely different though.

Bridges said:
Actually, it seems like it didn't do too well on PlayStation either. I wonder if that was the final nail in the coffin to say "if even PlayStation users aren't buying it, these guys aren't salvageable".

Obviously I don't have the financials to make an informed decision, but if I were running Xbox I'd prioritize keeping Tango around just to keep a Japanese presence.

Also at this point, I don't think there's ever a way to put the genie back in the bottle when it comes to Game Pass
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I don't think HiFi Rush not performing on PlayStation had anything to do with this. They got the team to port the game to PS and Switch and that was all they were going to get out of that team. HiFi Rush shouldn't be 30 dollars on PlayStation. It should be like 15-20 dollars, and you can see it's already on sale for 20 dollars, despite launching just a few weeks ago, but the cheaper you go, you still have to face the 30% royalty from Sony, so if a game is 15 dollars, you're only going to make 10.50 on it.

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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Another bad take from you (you used to be one of my favorite posters). Shinji Mikami left immediately after HiFi Rush came out. He was likely never going to stay, especially once Microsoft bought Zenimax, and obviously a lot of people joined the company because of him and were just as likely to leave with him. This shouldn't be a surprise, nor is it a reflection on the industry (somehow Nintendo got a pass in your analysis). Why do you think he is hurt? He got a bag selling Tango to Zenimax and just recreated Tango on his own terms with said bag... Look up Kamuy Inc.

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.
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GamePass is definitely a factor. Individual games struggle to be profitable, you're focusing on outliers. There is significant downward pressure on studios to have games that increase subscription rates and if subscription rates aren't increasing, which we know they aren't, cuts have to be made. This will become more and more prevalent in the months and years to come. Yet Matt Booty still has a job.

It's not weird at all. Mikami sold the company to Zenimax and he was always going to leave and create another studio and take his key employees with him. Was always his plan. It's not the first time he has done this.

Arsic said:
Priority games?

Bro you don’t got games, so how can any be a bigger priority?
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They need to get rid of unprofitable projects and studios. They aren't increasing their subscriber numbers and they aren't selling well on other platforms.
 
Dr. Wilkinson

Dr. Wilkinson

Member
BiohazardX95 said:
They closed tango, literally their Best studio like WTF. Microsoft wanted a japanese studio for a Lot of time and now that they have it they closed it after 1 timed exclusive Game.
You guys still think it is a good idea that Microsoft keeps buying studios?
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After Mikami left, they honestly probably would've floundered for years and limped along until they eventually closed. It's honestly for the best.
 
spons

spons

Member
Dr. Wilkinson said:
Oh, fuck this. Like Playstation or any other huge publisher hasn't also done significant cuts of this size or larger. I'm so tired of the cherry-picking and the gas-lighting. Name one publisher who hasn't done lay-offs. Even Nintendo's done layoffs in the last 2 years.
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The key difference is the insane amount of bullshit, lies and deceit coming from Xbox people on social media. Aaron Greenberg, Phil Spencer, they constantly spout utter garbage and I'm done with it.
 
Bkdk

Bkdk

Member
Wonder how many people are being laid off in total, basically what's left for bethesda will be next elder scrolls. I do wonder if MS will sunset xbox soon and just focus on releasing games on PC since cost for user acquisition for console is so high leading to very poor profit margin on every console sold, that would be awesome.
 
thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
tusharngf said:
gamepass may go down next.. that thing is not producing any good results.
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They are 100% going to end Day 1 for Game Pass. What they'll likely end up doing, is Day 1 extended trails/demos for all 1P games in the service, like how EA does (though maybe not 10 hours long).

Then you can buy the game at some 10% off discount and carry over your save progress to the full version. This was always the smarter way to do it but Xbox "geniuses" wanted Day 1 games in full to the service as a bragging right against PlayStation. Well, that has failed miserably.

Speaking of PlayStation though, they really need to improve their timing for Trails on their own platform. You'd think they would be Day 1 for 1P titles at least, but many don't get Trails until months after release. Day 1 for 3P games is also sketchy. But SIE are too busy being cucks to Steam fanboys ATM :/
 
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