Bloomberg previously reported that the vampire shooter’s [Arkane's Redfall] troubled development grew out of a push by top Bethesda leadership to make a live-service game, a decision that ultimately led to sky-high attrition and multiple delays.
All reward, no risk for the executives demanding that their best-in-class immersive sim developer create an empty live service shooter. Stupid decision led to predictable outcome and the workers feel the ax for it.
Honestly wild they would close Tango, of all developers, after they delivered maybe Xbox's only coveted exclusive (though it has since gone multi-platform). Redfall and Starfield were both duds, and I'm not sure if Xbox has had any other exclusives at all (coveted or otherwise).
Having said that, it's pretty bad that Xbox is closing these studios regardless of if they have put out a hit recently or not. As Arkane Lyon chief Dinga Bakaba points out:
You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.
Microsoft certainly has the money that they don't need to be making these cuts. This is clearly the result of Line-Go-Up syndrome, and will only hurt them in the long run.
PlayStation is already eating Xbox's lunch since Xbox has no console selling exclusives. How are they going to make any good exclusives after cutting so much of their staff? (Also as a side note, I find it wild how much Microsoft spent on Bethesda just to cut so many of those studios.)
Overall, a cruel and short-sighted move from Microsoft.
Overall, a cruel and short-sighted move from Microsoft
That depends on who and how many they decide to merge into other developer teams and who is let go.
I mean, I doubt most MS higher-ups would know talent if you threw it at them. But whenever there's big acquisitions, there's gonna be some house cleaning. So who gets to stay (if they want to) is likely down to last things they have produced.
Redfalls team is done for sure. But Tango Works I don't know... I can imagine overseas based companies are a more tricky beast to handle. So that's probably down to some cost/benefit analysis if they go or stay.
which is wild, because there's clearly a lot of talent there that was just spunked up the wall trying to create a game that any idiot could see right from the outset was conceptually awful
There's a statement on this ign article that says arkane Austin will have devs go to other studios, but nothing on the tango front. They're just closing it.
(Also as a side note, I find it wild how much Microsoft spent on Bethesda just to cut so many of those studios.)
It's easy to understand when you realize that purchase wasn't about talent, it was about IP.
Now sure, closing these studios and preventing the development of new exclusives is leading to Sony eating their lunch now, but longer/very short term it leads to them developing exclusives with their IP at a cheaper cost. It's just all about cost cutting to make pretty line go up.
Microsoft has certainly made games based off IP they owned without the original developers. But the only examples of that I can think of is Halo, which I don't think was highly regarded.
Similarly (though not at Microsoft), when Shu Takumi took a break from the Ace Attorney franchise to do Ghost Trick, the quality of the franchise was widely regarded to have a dip as well (though now he has returned for the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the quality is considered to have returned). Ghost Trick was considered to be a very high quality game as well.
While IP is valuable; as an outsider to the industry, the skilled game devs seemed infinitely more bankable. I was certain that Microsoft wanted Bethesda for its quality devs, but clearly I was wrong.
You don't sack the team responsible for your best regarded game in years, if you're concerned with making good games.
You're probably right. Microsoft is probably not worried about the quality. People will still buy their favorite IP, even with a notable quality dip
Absolutely devastating. Prey, high fi rush, evil within. All amazing games. Hate this shit. Love that one of the wealthiest companies in the world bought these studios and are still closing them. Fuck this shit
Arkane Austin was hemorrhaging talent before and during Redfalls development. In the end, there wasn't much left of the studio that had developed the Prey reboot. Hi Fi Rush and Evil Within are critical darlings, but the former only got its player base thanks to Game Pass and both didn't sell enough to keep a studio of more than 130 people alive (for perspective, that's about as many people as worked on Skyrim).
I get how sad it is to see these studios disappear and it's of course devastating for individual employees (at least in the short term), but it isn't all that surprising. Also keep in mind that the talent doesn't evaporate into thin air. We as players should pay far more attention to game credits and individual developers than the studios these people are working for. Talented developers are very likely to reappear elsewhere and continue making great games.
I think the blame for the demise of these studios is at least equally shared between Zenimax, Microsoft and the studios themselves. Blaming it all on Microsoft is a bit simplistic.
Idk id argue it is surprising. Say what you want about the performance of these games financially, but these studios were bought by one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Sure maybe the games weren't a huge hit, but like.... So? You have money. One flop and they're axed? Xbox said they want to be bigger in the Japanese market, yet they closed their only Japanese studio. A studio with a bunch of talent and training that is gone now. Xbox has a huge problem bringing studios up and getting good output. Their best exclusive (at the time) of 2023 is now without a developer. Why not eat that cost? Yes I get a lot of studios are closing right now but that shouldn't be happening at a company like Microsoft. But line must always be going up I guess
I think this comes from the mindset that if someone isn't generating immediate success. It's time to fire them. We see this a lot in sports. Team off to a terrible start with a new coach? Fire the coach and start trading players.
It really highlights how organizations see people as disposable. If people don't make line go brrr, out the door they go.
