Xbox has closed four of its Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall maker Arkane Austin.
IGN first reported the news, which came from an internal Microsoft email from Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty. Halifax’s Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom) and Roundhouse Studios will also close, although the latter will be folded into ZeniMax Online Studios, the team behind the Elder Scrolls Online. It’s unclear how many people will lose their jobs.
“These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades,” wrote Booty. “To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success.”
The closure of Tango Gameworks is particularly shocking, as the company’s latest title, last year’s Hi-Fi Rush, was one of Xbox’s most popular games in years. It was also just ported to PS5 in March. Arkane Austin, meanwhile, is coming off the poorly received Redfall but has a storied legacy working on beloved titles like Dishonored and Prey.
Microsoft says Redfall‘s latest update will be its last, although servers will remain online and it will provide “make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.” Further, Alpha Dog’s Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7th.
The closures come mere months after Microsoft closed its massive $69 billion USD (about $94 billion CAD) acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company also laid off nearly 2,000 employees in January, although that primarily impacted Activision Blizzard staff instead of Bethesda teams.
At the same time, Microsoft actually surpassed analysts’ expectations to earn $27.6 billion USD (about $37.7 billion CAD) last quarter.
All of the Microsoft news follows a seemingly unending string of layoffs in the gaming industry, with nearly 20,000 people losing their jobs since last year.
Source: IGN
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