Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More

Microsoft has closed a number of Bethesda studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda, IGN can confirm.

[Moegooner]

Hi-Fi Rush studio??? Seriously?? Goes to show quality matters lil to MS.

Worst gen ever. All big 3 battling are for who sucks the most. They just keep one upping one another.

[-Foxtrot]

This does feel like a “quick Sony is getting shit on for Helldivers, let’s announce it now to minimise impact”

[thesoftware730]

That is silly. Let's say there is some weird conspiracy. This announcement would effectively take ALL the attention away from the HD2 situation, especially since there is no longer an HD2 situation. I don't think anything will minimize this impact.

[Tacoboto]

... so they announce it on a Tuesday? 36 hours after Sony cleared up everything?

You people care more about the next conspiracy than anything else.

Nevermind that Sony followed the golden rule of minimizing impact by announcing horrible news on a Friday.

[Eonjay]

The constant weekly weird Sony drama is part of the industry's problem. Everyone else feels they can get away with murder. Also, what is the point of spending all that money if you just start shutting studios down. And... Redfall wasn't Arkane's fought. Microsoft new the shape the game was in but needed something for GamePass after a whole year of no releases into the service. Them taking it out on Arkane seems really disingenuous and distasteful. And WTF did Tango do? Didn't Todd just release a statement saying how he would never retire. Fire his ass.

[darthv72]

wow... i did not have them closing Tango and Arkane Austin on my bingo card.

[Hofstaderman]

Yes it does. Arkane Austin I can understand but Tango Gameworks made an excellent game in Hi Fi Rush.
On review, it want really all on Austin for Redfall and its failure, they were forced to make a multiplayer games when their expertise was always single player driven first person games.

[-Foxtrot]

Guys I’m not being all that serious…relax

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"I don't think anything will minimize this impact."

It already has. Notice your comment(or lack there of) vs HD2.

On another note, I would like to see Microsoft buy more studios and do more shadows drops on subscription services like they did Hi-Fi Rush. It's great for the industry I was told by people on here.

[Zeref]

I'm pretty sure that's exactly how it works. Same thing with layoffs. All of a sudden everyone has layoffs around the same time

[Cacabunga]

MS will always make it to amaze me by showing the worse version of themselves every single time..

[peppeaccardo]

MS proving to the world that ttheir leadership cannot drive success from these new acquisitions. They have ran the numbers and they have realized that long term, without a clear direction from the motehrship, these are a loss for the company hence they need to be cut. I might be wrong but I am absolutelly sure that if these developers would have not been purchased by Microsoft they would be still on business. A shame ...

[senorfartcushion]

Both things have happened but N4G's commenters (90% Playstation ) will follow suit

[Einhander1972]

10/10 deflection, the ol' Sony too deflect...

Let's not discuss the fact that PlayStations struggles have largely been caused by the fact that game pass has reshaped how consumers spend causing them to spend less as they play what is on subscriptions and don't buy games as much because they either have become subscription gamers or they fear the game will come to a subscription so they don't buy things.

And it's not just PlayStation, the whole industry has been effected, many big studios are struggling across the board to match sales targets from pre-game pass releases which is especially apparent in things like sequels.

Heck the best example was Microsoft's own Starfield which should have easily blasted past 10m sales by the end of 2023 going by sales of similar Bethesda games yet was only able to achieve 3m which of course was almost entirely on Steam.

[Moegooner]

Or maybe it's because Sony hasn't released multiple worthwhile SP games like they normally do each gen and the ones they did released actually sold well.

Layoffs aren't because studios are struggling, but because major publishers want to maximise profit gains.

[Profchaos]

Absolutely it's a service that's changed the way we view and consume games overall for the worse games have little value when they are part of a sub and become disposable doubly so if they are a day 1 freebie often it's the kiss of death for a game to be day 1 on gamepass as PlayStation players look at it like why do I have to pay 60 dollars for back 4 blood, payday 3 or outriders it'll be on PS plus soon enough and funny enough those games always fail to meet expectations sales are poor and longevity is poor.

When I see a game get a day 1 tag outside of first party my first thought is always something is wrong with it and it can't stand on its own feet so the publisher has made a deal to recoup development cost.

Even first party games have dropped in quality noticeably so since gamepass with gears 5 being the only good release I can think of since gamepass started

[Petebloodyonion]

Wasn't aware that Gamepass is available on PlayStation.
Or are you telling us that a service from a console lacking in sales is so great that it affects the morale and buying habits of ppl lacking access to the service?

Also pretty sure that saying all of them competing for who sucks means the whole industry and not just Sony and MS.

[Nitrowolf2]

This is what people online want. They just don't know or understand it. So many have warned about consolidation, and exactly what they have fear has been happening

This isn't the end, expect more bought out studios to be closed in the next few years

[Hofstaderman]

Spot on. All in the name "growth" to appease investors and shareholders. Can't sustain the lie though...it will always implode as illustrated by these closures. Applies to MS and Embracer.

[TiredGamer]

This. ^

Publishers are slowly mitigating all development risk since every new big/medium budget game has become too big to fail. Games are too expensive to make and the profitability for titles rests on a hair’s edge. When you need to sell 5 million copies of a game to be profitable, you know that we’ve turned a new page in gaming. The real victims here are the smaller studios/games that bring so much character and variety to the industry, like with Hi-Fi Rush.

It looks to me that Hi-Fi Rush did not fulfill financial expectations for moving the GamePass needle, and the sales from the PlayStation port experiment did not measure up either. So it gets the boot.

Sad day and era for gaming.

[notachance]

yeah smaller ABK studios like Toys For Bob are now in dangers

[notachance]

I just don’t know how the hell a company that can spend $67b to purchase a publisher decided that it’s okay to close the studio that produces their best game last year.

Whoever the higher up there that decides this is completely out of touch of how the game industry works, the damn xbox division as a whole would’ve been closed already if they weren’t sustained by other MS divisions.

[shinoff2183]

I got in an argument with someone on reddit and they weren't haven't that Xbox isn't propped up by other divisions argument. They swore up and down that Xbox was pulling its own weight. I just stopped after a couple back and forths

[TiredGamer]

Didn’t move the GamePass needle and the PlayStation port couldn’t save the return on investment….

[dumahim]

So this is what happens when you're pleased with the sales and investing in the studio? Good guy Phil at it again.

[Sonic1881]

From Aaron Greenburg:

"Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release."

😂😂😂 🤥🤥

[Lightning77]

Once again MS creates their own problems and they create their own animosity. Idc about their shitty excuse and "reasons" they're a incompetent company, plus all their Xbox fanboy influencers are dwindling I noticed. How many excuses can you make for a company like MS? Consoles are down and they're losing their own fanboy influencers also. That's all they had to cheer lead them now they're leaving them. Pretty nobody will be on MS dude no matter if they (if they ever but I doubt it) get their act together.

Trashy ass ppl and company....

If they go under eventual it's because of their own doing nobody else's.

[porkChop]

Yeah overall this gen is pretty shit. Everyone is making horrible decisions, great devs are getting either gutted or entirely shut down regardless of quality or success, very little in the way of innovative games, etc. This industry needs to see some drastic changes.

[WelkinCole]

Yes worse gen

[badz149]

where are all the cheerleaders for MS acquisitions amid all these?? you guys happy now? this will not be the end of it, maybe just the beginning!

[OptimusDK]

Maybe it has to do with this:
Hinji Mikami is leaving Tango Gameworks in the coming months.On February 23 it was reported that Mikami would be departing Tango Gameworks. Bethesda has stepped in to confirm the report of Mikami's forthcoming departure from the studio he founded over a decade ago.

Mikami originally founded Tango Gameworks in 2010 after departing Capcom, having lead the development of iconic games like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4.

[shadowT]

Tango Gameworks and Arkane?

[RaidenBlack]

Arkane Austin (Prey developer)
Not Arkane Lyon ( Dishonored developer)

[Crows90]

Prey was fantastic. Red fall was shit because they were forced to do shit they didn't want to make.

Atkane Lyon did death loop I believe....I hated that one.

[shinoff2183]

I personally liked prey more.

[RaidenBlack]

@shinoff2183
Because Prey was creative and different
Other than the live service Redfall, all other single-player Arkane projects have been creative and interesting

[Tankbusta40]

@Crows90

So just because people don't want to do something in life...bad quality is excused? Look what happened over that bad quality? no more studio

[MrDead]

Will be more soon, I've said it before I can't see MS keeping Bethesda. I think they'll strip it's IPs and slowly close everything, it's what they do.

[VariantAEC]

No one wants to admit it, but yeah MS has a long history of pillaging other smaller corporations for IP and dispensing with everything else.

[Zeref]

That doesn't make any sense lol. How would they make money from these IP'S with no developers?

[MrDead]

@Zeref
"That doesn't make any sense lol. How would they make money from these IP'S with no developers?"

MS don't care about the studios, they want the IP's. They'll keep the big ones in house, the game engines they run on and licence the rest. Stacks of cash to be made from licensing IP's ...or just sit on them so no one else can use them.

[blackblades]

@Zeref silly fool, buy them for the IP have there other studios make the games using the IP names to sell them. We all know having a popular franchise name can sell

[Einhander1972]

Well xbox fans you got what you asked for... and honestly deserved...

It was so easily predictable that game pass was never going to be able to support all these studios.

If Microsoft can't win they are going to burn it all to the ground...

Countdown to Phil Spencer telling us "it's better for the gamers this way" yet again.

[Barlos]

Agree but gamers didn't ask for people to be out of work.

[VenomUK]

@Barlos They indirectly did. Every person who made a wish list of who Microsoft should buy next and were sending tweets to Phil Spencer and Xbox with proposed studios, played a part.

The saddest part is the studios were closed because of the underperformance of their last games, and if they had been given a chance then their next games could’ve been great and succeeded. But it is the same old Phil Spencer Microsoft problem which is not giving them a chance, and that’s why he is not able to manage game studios.

[VariantAEC]

Yeah they did. Just because they refused to see what everyone with a brain was telling them doesn't mean they didn't know. They were told, they should've put up a fight and they didn't. This is the result. But who knows even if MS' fans weren't such boot-lickers, MS could've carried this out against their fans wishes anyway. Unfortunately, we have the hardcore MS defense bots running to deflect from any bad news and maybe, just maybe, MS felt empowered to do more damage as a result of their fans cheering this all on.

[anast]

They sold themselves out. Once people buy you they can do what they want. None of this should have been a surprise. When companies get bought out, they eventually get dismantled.

[shinoff2183]

Xbox fans were to busy daydreaming of Ms curbstopping Sony they didn't look at the big picture.

[Einhander1972]

Not disagreeing at all.

I want to add that from the day Microsoft announced game pass, before they even started buying up studios it was obvious that game pass wasn't going to be able to support itself.

It was so dumb that they doubled down on it by spending 100B on a service they knew only existed through subsidization.

They should have realized there was no way that adding massively more costs on a subscription they were subsidizing was certain to fail. Especially after seeing how it had devastated sales across the platform as a whole.

Heck by the time this generation started during covid when the console sales were similar PlayStation was already outselling xbox on multiplatform games 8:1 yet they still doubled down on it.

[Relientk77]

This is beyond wrong. Like wtf!? Especially Tango Gameworks with Hi-Fi Rush. I've heard nothing but good things about that game. Just because Arkane Austin screwed up one game release doesn't mean you need to close them. It sounds like they were forced to do a multiplayer game when they're a single player studio. They could have made a Prey 2 or some other game next.

Just wow awful news.

[Einhander1972]

Apparently PlayStation owners didn't buy enough copies of Hi-Fi Rush...

[RpgSama]

@Romulus23

All lies by the Green Bug, that just means that a lot of people fired bullets or whatever in the game, that's the key measurements they care to share.

Tango did NOT deserve to be closed down, they have not released a single bad game.

[Crows90]

That's usually what happens when you don't release it at the same time as other platforms....same thing happened with tomb raider reboot sequel. MS got exclusivity for a year and then when it came to PlayStation it barely sold. Nobody cared anymore.

[shinoff2183]

Still waiting on the physical release pre order window

[VariantAEC]

Well... I did my part. Hi-Fi Rush is a good game, but I don't think its MS' style. We don't really know how well it did or didn't perform by the numbers or whether it broke even. This could just be another MS blunder.

[Elda]

Exactly. MS purchasing a 3rd party studio & keeping games off of other platforms probably hurt them in the long run, then finally putting Hi Fi Rush on PS which in turn PS fans probably didn't care to buy & support Hi Fi Rush after a year later of release. Hi Fi Rush was released on Gamepass so it probably never really made any money selling solely.

[Eonjay]

@romulus23

Let's hope it didn't sell well because that would make this worse. Also I could have sworn I read an article about their next game in the works.

[Seraphim]

I was wondering if that played any part considering the timing, though, XB claimed the game to be a success last year only on XB & PC. Regardless MS f'd up there too. They shadow dropped HiFi on XB/PC last year at the perfect time. This year when they released on PS not only had the hype died, but there were so many solid games available the first 3 months of this year to play.

I almost bought it on PC last year, but now that it dropped on PS I just have far too many games to play to bother...

If MS needs PS and even Switch sales they need a better strategy. At the very least a release date where players are more inticed to buy said game. The problem is always going to be that if they want exclusives the hype for these games will be dead a year later. The exceptions might be some of their heavy hitters.... 2 cents

[Angyobangyo]

PS and PC owners probably bought more copies that Xbox owners.

[CrashMania]

I can only imagine the little amount of revenue both games generated, sent straight to gamepass and excluded from the largest current gen console userbase. Not to say both games would have done well if they were on PS5 too, but you heavily damage to a games revenue when you put it on a stagnating sub service for a poorly selling console, can't really see people going out in droves to sub to GP to play this.

[shinoff2183]

Gamepass subs(most of Xbox players) don't buy games all like that so it's not sustainable. It's reality.

[RaidenBlack]

Yea Austin made one of the most creative game of last gen with Prey and were forced to take risk with Redfall and now the whole studio is being closed.

[Aphrodia]

Yes, that Tango gameworks/ Hi-Fi closure was an eye opener for me as well. Neither played it nor was interested in it myself but all I heard was everyone acting like it was the second coming of guitar hero or something.

I don't know what else to say other than modern gaming is an overwhelming sea of mediocrity and there's not enough voices of reason speaking up and saying that most games made these days are just not very good.

[shinoff2183]

Your playing the wrong games then. There's always been shovelware type games. Going back to wii, snes, nes, ps1 Xbox og. That's a bs blanket statement. As an older gamer since atari days I'd personally say this is a great time. If you can't find anything to play. That's on you

With all that said in no way or form am I speaking of multi-player games, gacha, or whatever. I'm strictly speaking on single player games.

[Aphrodia]

you are hilarious. trying to validate your comment by excluding over half of the games out there today. Pathetic man.

[Neonridr]

I'm more devastated at the loss of The Evil Within.

[Chevalier]

Wait I was told Xbox had great engagement numbers?! Some Xbox fans said they bought games when I told them Xbox customers don't buy games?

So Xbox bought studios to keep games off other platforms and forgot they conditioned Xbox customers to not buy games. Whoops.

So anyone else think Outer World's 2 dies 🤔? I'm thinking a small game losing out on Nintendo and Playstation gamers buying will kill this IP. But it's okay Xbox fans can get more COD! Halo, Gears and Forza! Woot that's a 'win'. Yay Gamepass FTW

[CrashMania]

Can't wait to see the usual try spin and play this down. So much for the heroic MS and Phil saving these studios eh.

[Eonjay]

By the end of the day IGN will be talking about how this is right for the industry. Don't worry, Microsoft's PR is making the call now.

[RpgSama]

Tango did NOT deserve to be closed down, they have not released a single bad game, and I'm sure Arkhane failed just because they were both rushed and pressured into making a GaaS game they had no experience in doing and no support to get it completed out of the gate.

[PrinceOfAnger]

Not a big deal only hi fi rush was good

Sony has closed
Manchester studio
Japan studio
Pixel opus
London studio
Ready At Dawn ...

[RupeeHoarder]

The difference being Sony has a large group of other studios that have done something positive. Microsoft just closed the studio to the only good game they released in the past year (Hi-Fi Rush).

[CrashMania]

They all suck as well of course. But MS spent 10s of billions on these publishers for mass consolidation, every made a song and dance about how MS would save them, using their endless Windows, 365 and Azure money to keep them open forever and how Phil was some hero.

Nothing is safe unless it makes money, even for MS.

[Einhander1972]

Wow how far back do you want to go back.

Lionhead Studios
Aces Game Studio
BigPark
Carbonated Game
Digital Anvil
Ensemble Studios
FASA Studio
Good Science Studio
Hired Gun
Microsoft Studios Japan
Microsoft Studios Victoria
Team Dakota
Xbox Entertainment Studios
Xbox Live Productions
Lift London
Access Software
Salt Lake Games Studio
Twisted Pixel Games
WingNut Interactive

And more before this, this was just their cuts during xbone era that Phil cut while he was at the head.

And some of those PlayStation studios were merged not closed, most of the UK studios were folded into each other.

Japan Studio was renamed to Asobi not closed, aAsobi was an internal team of Japan Studio the "closure" the press misinformed people about was more or less a name change, the studio is in the same building and when the change happened less than 5 people mostly leadership positions chose to leave the studio to form Bokeh Studio, which still works closely with Sony.

And even if your deflection stood on it's own, Microsoft spent 3 Billion 3 years ago almost to the date to buy Zenimax and has already closed 2 of it's biggest studios and decimated Zenimax's support studio structure.

It's no wonder Todd Howard was talking about "more frequent releases" and letting other studios make their IP's games. The days of big budget huge Bethesda games is over...

In fact sadly Microsoft has ushered in the end of big budget gaming as we know it with their obviously unsustainable subscription industry change.

And I feel fully confident that this isn't the end of studio closures from these recently purchased studios.

[Abnor_Mal]

Ready At Dawn was never a Sony owned studio, and only made a few smaller God of War games and a Jax and Daxter spin off, and of course The Order1866.

They are currently owned by OcUlus Studios.

[MrDead]

How many times has MS fired Bethesda staff since they purchased it? I think it's been three rounds so far

[BehindTheRows]

Deflection is the finest form of delusion.

[shinoff2183]

London studio what have they made recently. Really the worst one was Japan studio. That sucked.

In reality though your deflecting. The fact of the matter is Ms just closed the studio that made their highest rated game in years. That's insane.

[Hofstaderman]

Also many of those staff were absorbed into other studios.

[PrinceOfAnger]

Also
Evolution Studios..

[VariantAEC]

Ready At Dawn was never a PS first party studio.
Manchester was closed and it was proposed that London should be closed, but their website is still up with no news about it being closed on their official site anywhere. So it's possible that the proposed closure just did not happen to get fufilled. Meaning London Studio *MIGHT* still be open running lean.

Edit: Japan Studio was closed with some staff making up the new Asobi Team Studio who's first title was the PS5 pack-in game "Astro's Playroom." Pixel Opus was closed and not replaced or spun-off their only games were Entwined and Concrete Genie they also helped publish Journey according to Wikipedia.

[Chevalier]

Man you got crap info

Sony never owned Ready at Dawn. It's now owned by Oculus.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...

[Tacoboto]

Phil needs to step down. What kind of usual spin do you want?

More and more people lose jobs but the people at the top stay the same. Hardware sales tank despite billions and billions spent. The math is plain and simple.

[Sonic1881]

I'm still trying to figure out what was the real reason to acquire Bethesda for millions or Billions of dollars if you're closing down studios 🤔 What were their true intentions 🤔 I mean do Microsoft really want to be a third-party publisher? It sounds like they're confused.with their future in gaming

[VariantAEC]

@Sonic1881
To rape each studio for their sweet succulent ultra-valuable IP. This is Microsoft's favorite past-time.

[blackblades]

Culteastwood must be having a melt down

[Sonic1881]

No more Evil Within 🤔

[Hofstaderman]

Oh no. That didnt even occur to me.

[Elda]

That is sad. Though MS owns the ip they could give it to another MS studio but without the original developers not on board it'll probably be better to just leave it alone.

[LoveSpuds]

That is a real bummer as the first game was really underrated and the second game was an absolute belter, so under appreciated.

I think losing Shinji Mikami was a big loss so I do wonder what the studio's next project would have looked like, but there is no defending the absolutely disgusting behaviour of MS, they are a cancer on the gaming industry!

[JL2930]

A real shame, maybe they will hand it off to another studio.

[-Foxtrot]

Those poor people, I really hope they land on their feet

Also I hope The Evil Within 3 finds a new home

Funny because Shinji Mikami left Tango recently, I wonder if he knew what was coming

The industry just isn’t the same these days

[monkey602]

It's alright though because Xbox announced their new Fire Vapor special edition controller today. 😒

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Yeah, this is bad news. I was looking forward to The Evil Within 3 as well.

[shinoff2183]

That's crazy. Wasn't hi fi their highest rated game in years.

I wonder if it's because the studios founder left and others followed.

[blackblades]

That's what I was thinking, probably cause he left but who knows

[PCgamer98]

How the hell do you drop the ball on tango gameworks?

[shinoff2183]

They should've just been left to their own devices. They made good games. Although I haven't tried hi fi yet (physical release, waiting to pre order)

[Chocoburger]

Be Phil Spencer, he's been failing upwards for 10 years now. This is the result of his endless mismanagement.

[monkey602]

Closing Tango is a travesty. I was disgusted when MS acquired them. Guess it turned out even worse than I could have imagined.

[Redgrave]

*looks at everyone who said buying activision would be good for the industry*

Look what recouping costs looks like. Tango delivered a great game in Hi-Fi Rush, and it didn't save them. Arkane is unfortunate but after Redfall, not wholly unexpected.

This sucks.

[Chocoburger]

Plenty of Activision employees will be looking for a new job next year. Well over 1000 total from multiple cuts throughout the year.

[Profchaos]

So much for phil I'm a huge supporter of arkane Spencer

[Workshyskiver]

The two studios had bled talent so I'm guessing they just didn't see them worth saving. Brutal business.

[MrDead]

I bet someone at MS will get a nice bonus for this.

Isn't this the second or third round of firings at Bethesda since MS brought them out and limited where they can put their games?

[Goodguy01]

The guys that made hifi? Ooftah

[cthulhucultist]

I dont even know where to begin with. They acquired so many studios only to release mediocre games with Live Service elements to them, and then they started consolidating their studios by closing down competent ones.

Arkane Austin was forced to make a multiplayer game (just like Lionhead was forced to make a multiplayer Fable game), only to have them close down. That was a truly terrible move as they closed down a revered single player RPG developer studio at a time where they needed exclusives most (they also cancelled third party exclusive Scalebound).

Tango released a critically acclaimed game (which by August 2023, reached 3 million players between purchased copies and Game Pass subscriptions) which apparently was not enough.

That is terrible news by all accounts and no xbox fanboy should defend/spin this.

I just hope the developers are integrated into other teams or find other studios to work with

[gold_drake]

perfect timing after sony got shit for helldivers. haha. ridiculous.

i cam smell the bs that's coming our way from Phil.

[jznrpg]

Helldivers 2 situation was fixable and it has been fixed. Closing down Tango isn’t. Arkhane Austin I sort of get but really it was MS’s fault for hyping up Redfall because they had nothing else to hype and then pushing the unfinished game to release.

[z2g]

Gamers: “we want Xbox to fail! Sales are down!! Woohoo!!”

Also gamers: “Xbox is evil, they’re shutting down studios that make games!”

[BehindTheRows]

Also gamers: “buying Activision is good for gamers”.

Just stop. Nothing about this is good.

[shinoff2183]

Not everyone wanted or wants to see Xbox shut down. I want them to do better without the take over the world mentality. I also hate their rush on killing off physical media. Yep they get a big fk from me for that.

Just to add. Not all Sony fans wanna see Ms go under sure some do. Have you seen youtube comments though from Xbox fans. Most of them seem to want Sony to legit die. The hatred is strong over there.

[Skuletor]

Smart gamers want Xbox to do well, without competition, other platforms aren't as likely to improve.

[jznrpg]

The problem is MS will never have a different mentality, they want to dominate or destroy. That’s why I do believe we are better off without MS in gaming.

[Chevalier]

@z2g

"Gamers: “we want Xbox to fail! Sales are down!! Woohoo!!”"

Stupid Xbox fans. Yay I don't have to buy anything and Gamepass is great! Woot! Get COD and other huge releases on Gamepass. Man consolidation of all these great studios and IP is incredible. Oops just need to close studios now.

Don't say we didn't warn you! Oh wait we did and you guys didn't care. Remember Spencer can do no wrong

[richardmmorales]

Dang it not Tango Gameworks. I wanted to see what they could do for Evil Within 3 with a bigger budget.

[drgkngx]

You just know, after all this, there will still be people online begging Microsoft to buy Sega.

[rlow1]

After reading Matt Booty statement, they’re culling out diversity of games to put money on sure winners. A three trillion dollar company can’t even take a risk on small titles like HIfi rush….pathetic.

[jznrpg]

They can’t make sure winners though. Starfield was supposed to be a sure winner and it was botched. Halo Infinite I’m sure they thought was a sure winner. Redfall they hyped like a sure winner and said it was seen as such internally. They are full of sht

[Petebloodyonion]

WTF?
Honestly, this is a piece of terrible news, especially regarding Tango gameworks which produce quality titles.
What message is this sending?
Produce great quality game but in the end you might still get fired?

[Cockney]

Its the same message you've been singing from the rooftops about for the last 4 years.
The "WTF" here is how blind you've been to it but now suddenly see the light, i mean WTF?

[Petebloodyonion]

Your point?
and care to tell me what message I have been singing for the past 4 years?

[TheColbertinator]

Tango Gameworks deserved better than this. Dark days.

[Juancho51]

They dont care about talent or anything when they do cuts, they just consolidate and make people work harder and make shittier games in longer time.

[GhostScholar]

The tango closure is shocking to me. Hi-fi rush started the positive turn around for Microsoft’s gaming division. This after they promised that soon the exclusives would come and when they finally started to they switched to multiplat. None of the big 3 care about the fan base and I get that becaus businesses are started to make money, but there is zero reason to have an Xbox now. Ask Phil he’ll tell you.

[Barlos]

Worst generation ever. I feel an industry crash incoming.

I do hope everyone affected by this finds work very soon. Sad times

[Hereandthere]

Sony and nintendo are doing fine, don't lump that failed xbox on them.

[Barlos]

Sony recently laid people off too. It's industry wide.

[JL2930]

Sony are bleeding money.

[BehindTheRows]

No, Xbox crash. Nintendo and Sony are fine.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Are you shitting me

[jimb0j0nes]

Hi-Fi Rush is refreshingly one of the only games to catch majority of people by total surprise when it drops

Hi-Fi Rush launches as an incredibly good game and reviews extremely well

Hi-Fi Rush wins multiple awards during award season

Hi-Fi Rush is one of the flagship games that Microsoft sends to other platforms to show off the standard of its first-party games

Microsoft shuts down the studio that made it

All in the space of like 16 months? Unbelievable...

[M3talDiamond]

Nice Work Phil keep going until the gaming industry is f**ked

[Knightofelemia]

Seems like a waste of cash to purchase someone just to shut down some studios. But hey least they lasted longer then when Google bought up three studios just to shut them down after a year.

[isarai]

Where's that "renewed support for Japanese studios" MS? What a joke

[DivineHand125]

It feels like we are in a recession. There are no careers anymore. Everyone is getting laid off and the companies are downsizing their labor force.
Everything is getting less and less affordable by the day.

I don't know why Microsoft closed Tango but it seems 2024 will be the year of layoffs.

[Hereandthere]

Is that the new cope excuse xbox players going to use?

[DivineHand125]

What makes you think all comments must either be for or against Sony or Microsoft. Sadly, that is the message you got from my comment but you need to stop cheerleading for whichever side.

My comment reflects the reality of the tech industry these days. The gaming industry in particular now has no job security.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

This is terrible regardless

[jznrpg]

Plenty of jobs available in almost any industry. Corporations are charging more for items than they need to for record profits and jobs should pay more instead of paying CEO’s hundreds of millions but the job market is actually suffering from lack of workers in general.

[Hereandthere]

Microsoft and xbox are a cancer to the gaming community since phil spencer took over, can't wait or him to get the AX.

[VariantAEC]

Somewhere deep down... I knew they would cut Tango off. They don't make Xbox style games.

[RhinoGamer88]

Again, NO Executive accountability or departures. Succession meets Gaming

[DefaultComment]

Great! Microsoft and their policies and shareholders just shut down an actual studio with talents, like Tango Gameworks because...reasons.
TBH this industry deserves to crash for all those crappy decisions take all for the sake of "profits" and less about what us(the consumer) wants or needs.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Congratulations xbox fanboys and Phil this is good for gaming right....

[Inverno]

Tango made a smaller game going against the non sustainable standard of AAA gaming and Arkane was forced to released an incomplete game Phil knowingly pushed out to cover his arse for the lack of exclusives after the Bethesda purchase. When execs fk up, employees pay the price. Had plans to buy Hifi but now I won't buy it at all.

[Hereandthere]

Like i said a few months back, Microsoft and idiot phil should have never bought Bethesda

[RNTody]

Welcome to the future under Microsoft as they work to consolidate and recoup their massive costs on buying publishers. Everyone who was against MS' acquisitions saw this coming, all the idiots who praised it as good for competition are now acting surprised.

Game Pass is NOT sustainable. Get it through your heads.

Microsoft will focus on a handful of core IP that will sell, but over time they're going to degrade just like Starfield and Redfall because Microsoft does not care for gaming and because Game Pass CANNOT SUSTAIN TRIPLE A DEVELOPMENT.

This is not the last of it. Not even close.

[Chocoburger]

Many Activision employees will be on the chopping block later this year or next year.

The only good news about seeing MS firing developers is now that they're free from MS's grip and can start a new company, such as what Mikami will likely do soon, and finally get back to making GOOD games again, which is almost impossible under Philly Spency.

Anyone with a shred of talent wants to get away from MS, so getting fired is a roundabout way to have it done.

[SimpleDad]

Only Live Service games remain... when Hellblade 2 comes out... well good luck people at Ninja Theory. (RIP)

[VersusDMC]

Well the founder and writer/director tameen antoniades left Ninja theory recently just like mikami left tango...everyone better download Hellblade 2 to keep the studio alive.

[Elda]

More like buy the game for support & for the game to make money.

[jznrpg]

downloading doesn’t do nearly as much buying the game. Plenty of people downloaded Hi Fi Rush I’m sure but it didn’t help at all apparently. I buy just about ever game I play even though I have PS plus. I want my money going directly to the devs I like. If you are a Gamepass only gamer you are letting MS choose what games they want to give you and what developers they want to support.

[VersusDMC]

@Jznrpg

Downloading hellblade 2 and booting it up once if you have gamepass is something everyone can do to support it by increasing the player numbers even if you don't want to play it.

But if you want to go the extra mile and buy the game, go nuts.

[Elda]

LOL!! Closing Tango Gameworks down? Their only Japanese studio. I'm guessing Hi Fi Rush didn't sell well on PS. Smh....MS should't have bought multiplat studios in the first place just to shut them down. Ninja Theory will probably be next.

[Barlos]

Was thinking the same. If Hellblade 2 underperforms I wouldn't be surprised if they also suffer cuts.

[anast]

I suppose HIFI Rush wasn't that shadow dropped banger of the century. Barely anyone played that game. And Redfall is a bad game that no one asked for.

[Stonilein]

naur 💀

[Zeref]

I understand the other studios. Maybe Austin deserved another chance since they didn't want to make Redfall in the first place. But I guess after Redfall and their other games being underwhelming or underperforming. It is what it is.

Tango is a weird one though. They made nothing but good games. What happened to using GamePass to uplift smaller and unique games?

[CrimsonWing69]

There goes my hopes for an Evil Within 3. Y’know, I was one of those people all for the MS acquisition and look what happens… devoured the studios for “quality” games. People said this would happen, lesson learned. Thanks Microsoft, thanks for f*cking nothing.

[Profchaos]

Yeah we all saw this for what it was they are IP mining.

They never cared Abou the studios just what rights they held.

It's why they wanted the biggest names in gaming like doom because for the past 20 years they have been like woah is us we suck at building a recognisable stable of games and no one likes us

[ocelot07]

Wow surprised by Tango. They only just released hifi on ps5 why not give it more than a month to see if it sells well?

It's not my type of game but it got great reviews. Did it not sell well or something? If that's the case my guess is gamepass is to blame. People rather of rented than buy it over on Xbox.

[purple101]

its my type of of game,

but will buy Zenless Zone Zero instead, and jet set radio, when Sega remake it, which they are.

[helicoptergirl]

I bought it on PS5, but I don't think it's about that. I mean the DLC for REDFALL was still being worked on hours before this whole announcement. I think this whole thing is bigger than how many sales Hi-Fi Rush got. I don't think the sales of that game had any part in this decision.

[ocelot07]

I agree with you I just don't understand it. The game was very well received when it first released on Xbox over a year ago. I remember Microsoft praising them up and being happy with the release. I could understand if hifi rush bombed and they lost faith in the studio.

Redfall I mean it was awful. Even after fixing it up it was dull. They vouched to keep supporting them and as you said was working on the only to be closed out the blue.

Very strange from MS very strange indeed.

[TriniOutsider]

Why are the comments turning this into some Sony thing? What does Sony have to do with Microsoft shutting down their studios under ZeniMax?

Tango Games being closed is something else to me. Now it makes sense why Shinji Mikami left.

[Chocoburger]

Hopefully the devs join Mikami at a new studio, and then get a similar deal with Sony, where they remain independent like what Kojima got back in 2016. That would mean we get to see a happy ending and a new beginning for Tango Gameworks (under a new name).

[Skuletor]

Tango Gameworks closure was unexpected. Hi-Fi Rush is in this month's Humble Choice, that came out today, so I'll be adding it to my Steam library right now.

[andron]

Ohboy Microsoft, closing Tango Gameworks is just crazy cruel. Dudes were really cooking and you said f off... Nice....
Edit:

So who's next on the chopping block MS???!

[purple101]

im not really sure, who this benefits

😂😂😂

[Skuletor]

The investors, in the short term, I guess

[HankHill]

It sucks that we'll never get The Evil Within 3 or Prey 2 now.

R.I.P.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Why? Just why?

[Terry_B]

...terrible.

[Stevonidas]

I’m done with Xbox. Great hardware, love the performance patches for older OG/360 games, but the brand has been on a slow decline ever since the debut of Kinect in 2010. Arkane Austin’s closure is a slap in the face. First they make them release an unfinished game, then they shut them down. Terrible management at all levels at Xbox (aside from the hardware team).

[Yui_Suzumiya]

Who's next? id Software or MachineGames? This is absolutely ridiculous. I was looking forward to The Evil Within 3. I guess after that absolute 5-head move buyout of Activision they had to cut corners somewhere.

[Redemption-64]

I take a break for a day or two and this is the 1st thing I see? Wow

[TwoPicklesGood]

Ouch, that’s rough. Hopefully some good comes out of it.

[Ra3030]

One thing that I think is overlooked here with Microsoft is yes they made a lot of Developer and Publisher acquisitions over the last 5yrs but what's not talked about is how do the employees feel about being bought out by Microsoft. Microsoft constantly has dumpster fires several at a time at different Developers and IMO many of the employees didn't want the buyout to happen they weren't happy with the buyout and they're not happy now. Now I get in many cases what an employee wants is irrelevant but once the acquisition is made they become Microsoft employees. IMO Microsoft regardless of what they say they micromanage these Developers and projects to a unhealthy degree and this will reflect in effort of unhappy employees and in the finished protects which in this case is games and we've seen enough to know that what Microsoft First Party has released in the last 5yrs has not been good. Microsoft Xbox needs new Leadership at the Top meaning anyone in a Xbox Exec position from Phil Spenser on down needs to be replaced. Phil Spenser has pretty much been the #1 or #2 guy at Xbox since the OG Xbox released 25yrs ago......He got ta go!

[WelkinCole]

If anyone still wonders why I hate the xbox brand and wanted it to die for a long time this is why. MS is a cancer to the gaming industry. They have proven it time and time again

Do xbox fans now understand why many of us PS fans were worried when MS just gobble up Beth as welll as Activision? There was no way in hell MS would be able to be profitiable from these acqusition knowing that their market share is terriable and taking MP's and make them exlcusive will ensure the deaths of those studios beause of the loss in revenue. Now here we are right at where everyone knew was going to happen.

Worst still their virus has started to infect Sony and Playstation and I worry this gen is the end of AAA story driven games that I can buy and own froever like so many gens before.

At the rate Sony is going I doubt I wil buy a PS6.

[Kassanova07]

FFS

[ZwVw]

Tango Gameworks really?!! Been saying it for over a decade, Phil Spencer is a joke!!

[Valkyrye]

Worse company on the planet bar none.

[Chocoburger]

Microsoft is trash for sure, but there are companies out there that have continuously committed human atrocities. Which I would grade as worse than firing people.

[jznrpg]

Many of us saw this coming. Gamepass is not sustainable with 50 studios or whatever they have. They will close more studios, have a few a studios handling all of the IP and focus most on MT’s , battle pass type of games because they aren’t selling physical copies. On top of that gamepass price has to go up by a good amount to even maintain that. Quality will go down with different studios handling closed devs IP. This was foreseeable a mile away but Xbox gamers begged for it just to have what they saw as some sort of win. In the end we all lose with more formerly multiplat studios closing down.

[Asterphoenix]

They shut down a company that made their best game this generation. This generation is a joke.

[Hofstaderman]

This generation is a joke for XBOX.

[PassNextquestion]

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda.

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

[The-VG-shamman]

Lol what reality are you guys suspended in? Welcome to the purge lol. Been warned for the last couple years but you fanboys don’t get it.

[The-VG-shamman]

Top rated comment claims that these company’s are competing to see who’s worst,? Lol. Is it that hard to admit they’re all one in the same now? The machine is eating itself lol.

[The-VG-shamman]

Maybe now would be a great time to buckle up and get ready for this quick descend into the future lol.

[The-VG-shamman]

This is only the beginning, wait for the next showcases from these company’s, and how you will all fall short of the truth and fall right back into line picking sides in these manufactured differences lol.

[Hofstaderman]

Why lump Sony into this? They foster their studios and did not spend 70 plus Billion Dollars buying up publishers. MS has always been about embrace, extend, extinguish.

[The-VG-shamman]

Because all big 3 are participating in this manufactured crisis, controlling censorship, limiting game studios, and exploiting game value. This is simply an easier vessel to carry the truth since you guys love putting goats on the stake. Hit the straw man all you want. won’t change the truth.

[Demetrius]

Sounds like the higher up morons or whatever title these lame mfs go buy just tryna find ways to pocket money

[BlackTar187]

Something happens like this that was so obvious for the last two years shouldn’t surprise anyone.

[ghostrider32]

Xbox entire management gotta go.

[jwillj2k4]

Damn Microsoft.. I said shut the game down not the studio… y’all can’t even listen right 😂😭😭

[maelstromb]

Seriously... F*** this industry. MS can go eat s*** today. I'm disgusted and I'm done. Is this really the industry we all want to prop up? Bc I certainly can't stand the taste and smell of s*** and yet if this is what we choose to allow we all better get used to the smell and taste as companies just like MS buy up beloved studios, consolidate their monopoly and eliminate competitive buying power. So I say, kick MS where it really hurts. Dump your Xbox subscriptions en mass and let them know you won't be buying a single one of their games or hardware in the future. Bombard their X feed. This is outrageous and an audacious spit in the face of these devs and us the fans.

[DarXyde]

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It's not about the talent. It was never about the talent.

It's about Game Pass content and IPs. It is not a coincidence that the people obsessed with AI who recently went on a publisher purchasing spree are closing studios from the publisher we purchased somewhat recently.

Keep going, Microsoft. Keep screwing the labour. You'll answer for it eventually, whether that means breaking up your game studios or people boycotting your products.

[Doomeduk]

Can't see who this helps Phil

[8bitAssassin]

I hope Gamepass tanks the whole division.

Your asses thought you looked cool, trying to pay the tabs on an incredible amount of games just to say it would launch there.

Fxxxers cried about Final Fantasy not being on the system, instead of keeping the eco system going and just buy the game were it's available. Entitled cents.

A whole as dogshit company didn't want nothing but ruin gaming for a great many.

[blanka4545]

so sad! :"(

[Angyobangyo]

So this was all lies from MS, not surprised as MS has always been full of it https://twistedvoxel.com/mi...

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

Arkane is one of my fave studios and I knew that MS would destroy them one day.
Redfall was only bad because of Bethesda/MS. they didn't deserve this.

[poppatron]

Holy shit!!! Dishonoured 3???? Prey 2???? Not happening forget about it! Doesn’t matter who the devs are, or who owns them, they’re only ever one bad game away from closure nowadays. The industry is down the toilet big time, literally every publisher is making record profits and yet there are record amounts of firings and closures.

I'm glad I grew up in the 90s and have played games throughout so many fantastic periods but when I step back and look on the horizon I don’t see things changing for the better anytime soon.

This gen has sucked big time.

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

I hope nobody is surprised by this. Microsoft is a plague upon every industry they touch.

[Ninver]

That's a lot of people. Hope they bounce back. Why did MS make such a huge purchase only to close them down? They're are absolutely incompetent.

[S2Killinit]

Holly crap… what do you guys think about all this?