BREAKING: Microsoft has closed Redfall's Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush's Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. | IGN
BREAKING: Microsoft has closed Redfall's Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush's Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. | IGN
I don’t understand why you kill Tango after Hifi Rush was so well received. Wack
Because being received well isn't what Microsoft are after. They're after making as much money, as (un-)realistically possible, even if it means shutting down things. This isn't the first, and definitely not the last time. They've had more than a handful of studios with iconic IPs, that got absolutely annihilated after acquisition
Being after well received titles is congruent with their Game Pass strategy. Being after as much money as possible would mean they probably should have charged more than $30 for one of the best games of the year.
Ten years to make one well received game. After two failed high budget titles, an attempt at a franchise, Ghostwire and a mobile game supported for only five months.
The studio head Shinji Mikami left shortly after Hi-Fi rush. So I would guess any projects they had in the works weren't interesting enough to justify the costs.
It was well received but did it have microtransactions? Checkmate game enjoyers!
Just because the company you work for is making bank doesn't mean they won't fire you at the drop of a hat if they think they can make more by doing it.
Tbh, the game wasn't even that good. After the first 5-6 hours most people put it down. It just becomes frustrating and not fun.
So Redfall was set up to fail, and you make those people fall on the sword, and then Hi-Fi Rush is a game people clearly want more of and could have stood to cost more than $30, and you let those people go too instead of hitting the ground running on a sequel? What is wrong with you, Microsoft?
Going by MS‘s track record the last couple decades, it‘s all business as usual. It‘s expected from them to eventually close everything down they incorporate into their ecosystem. Sometimes after draining it or letting it rot away, and sometimes sooner than later.
This is what happens when we allow gigantic acquisitions.
I’m generally against acquisitions for this reason. So many companies just want to be acquired instead of running a company.
I can’t think of one large acquisition that benefited consumers
I can’t think of one large acquisition that benefited consumers
Because consumers are not thought of when acquisitions happen. Shareholders and maybe regulations are thought of.
Maybe Microsoft could stop vacuuming up all of the studios that have built names and reputations based on putting out great games. They're going to ruin these companies. Damn corporations always coming in and wrecking stuff.
I'm definitely a little confused about Tango - I'm hoping we'll at least get more details come out about why Microsoft shuttered them. I mean, Ghostwire Tokyo was... whatever, and I could understand Microsoft not wanting to have them working on that kind of scale again any time soon. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was fairly expensive and perhaps didn't do as well as they hoped. But I'm surprised they didn't want to just downsize the studio and aim for another HI-FI Rush-esque game (or sequel).
But Arkane Austin being closed definitely makes sense. Not only was Redfall a disaster, but by the time Redfall released, 70% of the people who'd worked on Prey had left the studio. (Largely because the studio's president had left the studio just after Prey, I believe, rather than because of the Microsoft acquisition of Bethesda.) All that was really left was the name.
If Microsoft shuts down Double Fine I'm going to riot
Xbox is a reverse midas. Everything they touch turns into shit.
Known as the "merdes touch."