Xbox is shutting down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games. Roundhouse Studios absorbed by ZeniMax Online Studios.

[Flavius]

The Tango closure is genuinely baffling, even with the acknowledgment that we're talking soulless corporate monoliths who exist for one purpose. Was the overhead that high? Xbox knows they have a horrible image problem outside the US. They've never entirely backed away from actively working (and working PR) to partner with Japanese studios. They have to know this stinks to high heaven even beyond the shitty practice of treating human beings as disposable resources.

They really are quite the hot mess and the ebb and flow of goodwill continues to look positively Jekyll & Hyde.

 

[JohnLennon]

Not surprising since Ghostwire Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush, Mighty Doom and Redfall were all commercial flops. I think the studios would've closed with or without Microsoft having acquired them. And citing Microsoft Corp market cap, while I understand the idea behind it, is not really a valid point when talking only about the MS gaming division. Xbox as a division operates separately and needs to find ways to be profitable on its own.

That said, this is genuinely heartbreaking. Hi-Fi Rush was the best game on any platform I had played in a long time. I wish more people bought/played the game. I also really enjoyed Mighty Doom for a while as well. The industry is in a really dark place right now, and this is further proof of it. No publisher is safe, no matter how profitable they used to be.

Microsoft must have known closing Tango in particular, no matter if it made financial sense or not, was going to get the most backlash. I hope they have a good plan going forward, and I hope the developers from all studios affected are all able to land on their feet.

 

[doemaaan]

Man…. If it wasn't clear before, it has to be now. Less risky releases.

 

[Joe White]

Fuck

 

[Shizuka]

I checked the date, but april fools was over a month ago. I feel for the studios that were acquired by Microsoft, handled them great games and are now being shut down.

 

[Corleth the Fey]

Haha. Microsoft bought Activision to 'save' them, only to become absorbed by the 'COD is all' cult as well. Losers.

 

[Tsumami]

im fuming

this is not an okay thing to do

 

[Yabberwocky]

What the absolute fucking fuck. Nauseating news, my heart goes out to all affected. Arkane Austin and Tango is just baffling, even with what happened to Redfall. Hi-Fi Rush was one of Xbox's rare recent success stories, and even that wasn't good enough?

I literally just started listening to John Johanas' interview on My Perfect Console yesterday, it feels awful to continue it at the moment know what just happened to Tango. And yeah, it'd be about 11pm on Japan at the moment. Extra asshole move.

 

[NekoNeko]

get fucked MS.

 

[inkblot]

I feel like Xbox has had enough time, they're officially just straight up bad at managing game development and IP

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Yeah thats what I thought as well. That gamepass was a safety net and they weren't as reliant on actual sales.

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In the early days maybe but now that they got so much IP and studios yeah GP not going save you unless you do great numbers on it .
Them double down of AAA IP is make sense since that brings in more people into GP that any other type of game.
This is another way to show how gaming differnt from TV\movies less upkeep in that industry in terms getting content .

 

[CloseTalker]

Someone pointed this out that ms dropped this late night in japan...as well like 9/10pm..

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I mean Xbox is a western company so they released on western time zones. There will always be one time zone that gets it late

 

[Pez]

And the ugly side of consolidation begins...

 

[Jackcent]

Hi-Fi Rush was the only good software Xbox has developed in who knows how fucking long.
Eat my entire ass, Microsoft.

 

[Lucifonz]

Insane. Assuming it's purely just down to the commercial success (or lack of) for those studios and therefore looking at hard numbers in terms of profitability.

The talent is there though, clearly capable studios but on the wrong projects for the commercial side. A very corporate'y feeling decision for sure. How shitty.

Especially for Tango coming off the back of Hi-Fi Rush.

 

[NovaChrysalia]

I've been hearing talk about those studios having been very in the red for a while now so...

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Ouch

Nevertheless, why Tango

 

[Odinsmana]

Holy shit that is awful. I didn`t even know that Tango games were underperforming. They seemed to be doing OK.

I really hope anyone championing more conosolidation in the industry looks at this and realizes why it has to stop. Buying studios just to shut them down can`t keep happening.

 

[zombiejames]

Man…. If it wasn't clear before, it has to be now. Less risky releases.

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Except Hi-Fi Rush was a success and literally just launched on the PS5.

 

[The Riot Inside]

Ok now I'm done with Xbox. I need to build a PC asap

 

[AuthenticM]

"we have activision now. no need for these anymore."

 

[Star-Lord]

Fuck looks like more changes are gonna happen in the next year to year and a half

View: https://x.com/_tom_henderson_/status/1787840309453328423?s=46&t=vpTdtr1wHX-zEKV8GyFv5g

 

[LaytonWright]

Mikami bailed at the right time, it seems. Still, a tremendous loss of talent.

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Wouldn't shock me he picks up alot of the talent and makes another studio

 

[IIFloodyII]

So just an FYI, neither Tango nor Arkane Austin actually made a game from beginning to end under Microsoft's leadership. They never had a chance to do anything after the consolidation.

Microsoft bought them to shut them down basically.

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Nope, both HiFi and Redfall started development before they acquisition.

 

[Kirby64]

Honestly, what the fuck does Xbox even do now? Gamepass hasn't worked - their consoles are declining (main source of subs), PC is miniscule because Steam is just that good, and cloud, their one chance of spreading gamepass to a wider audience isn't materializing.

Is COD on gamepass their final shot in the dark? If that doesn't work then literally nothing will.

 

[DjDeathCool]

You could let a monkey pilot the Xbox ship and do a better job but instead we get billionaires and this. Fuck this. Fuck Microsoft. Fuck consolidation.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Side thing, was it financially better to just kill the studio rather than selling them off to another publisher? Tango is a known name, it has/had value.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Hi-Fi Rush literally led the charge of Microsoft letting their games go to other platforms but sure Microsoft, close the studio.

Fucking clown shoes.

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I mean… *why* do you think Hi-Fi "led the charge"? It was very likely the calculus was "either this game does X sales on PlayStation and Steam, or the studio closes".

 

[jroc74]

Curious what the closure of Tango means for their Japan strategy.

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I think closing Tango tells us alot about that strategy.

 

[oty]

I've been hearing talk about those studios having been very in the red for a while now so...

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i think the "i am a trillion dollar company, i can afford some negative cash to retain talent that are going to increase company trust, widen my portfolio and eventually give me breakout hits" angle made sense for Microsoft, but clearly money talks

 

[bezuzu]

If only we could review bomb suits out of their jobs

 

[BetterGraphics]

It's looked obvious for a while, but Xbox seems to be an utter shambles in how it's run. I'm glad I tapped out and focused on Steam and PS moving forward.

 

[denverchickennuggets]

Man, what a crappy bummer from MS. Why close Tango? Hi-Fi Rush was great and seemed to have done well.

 

[bes.gen]

so i guess now half of the industry is in jeopardy because these inept losers were allowed gobble it up with daddy's money.

 

[btags]

Awful decision making here.

 

[maabus1999]

Fuck looks like more changes are gonna happen in the next year to year and a half

View: https://x.com/_tom_henderson_/status/1787840309453328423?s=46&t=vpTdtr1wHX-zEKV8GyFv5g

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He is referencing well beyond Microsoft here though. The whole industry is in a huge transition, and 100%, this is not the last shock announcement folks will see.

 

[Floex]

This is horrible.
Once more it shows why consolidation is shit, and people were applauding Microsoft for nabbing Bethesda and later ABK.
And no, I don't care about console war, Sony does the same shit as well, but so far Microsoft was the only one that nailed 2 major publishers and were on the prowl for more.
I can see Bungie get the axe in the coming years.

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Tbf, if Bungie does eventually go, that will be their own doing, i should i say, upper management of Bungie doing.

 

[Fat4all]

I am fully of the belief that Starfield was it for Phil. It didn't change Xbox's trajectory and didn't up-end the industry, and I bet that's how he was selling it to the top brass.

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Starfield not setting the world on fire is also what's gonna get Elder Scrolls 6 delayed and the next Fallout rushed asap, cuz the show = money

 

[AzorAhai]

FUCK Microsoft, obviously. Sorry for everyone involved, of course.

But I'm also angry at all its enablers, including many journalists and players who have been spreading M$ propaganda for free by defending their huge acquisitions.

 

[CloseTalker]

I imagine Xbox has quite a lot of studios in the red at this point in time. It still doesn't make any sense.

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When you release all your games primarily on a platform that doesn't really sell copies of games because of Game Pass, then yeah haha. I have no idea how MS measures success for it's titles.

 

[LossAversion]

Xbox: "We need to be putting out great games every quarter".

Also Xbox: "We need to shut down Tango".

What a bunch short-sighted fools.

 

[Slaythe]

I get what you mean but It's a horrible long term strategy.

The switch for Call of Duty and Minecraft will turn off someday. What will Microsoft do then?

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They'll buy roblox 2 or whatever.


This is strictly led by shareholders bullshit. They will do this. It's over.

 

[MeltedDreams]

If a breakout hit like Hi-Fi Rush can't keep a studio alive, what hope do the rest of us have 😨

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Sadly most people don't buy great experimental games. These who bought it absolutely loved it, but that was not enough. :(

 

[Hayeya]

Damn, expected for Arkane after Redfall, but did not expect this for Tango at all.
Sad.

 

[DustyVonErich]

After this Fallout re-emergence due to the show, it seems MS has been reminded what a huge IP it is and how they have TES just sitting there as well. Wouldn't shock me a bit with a refocus on those.

Funny though. Both PS and MS have shows boosting great franchises.

Xbox: Put more resources into it! (probably)

PS (well ND): We need to choose whether we want to become a multiplayer studio to support Factions, OR focus on our bread and butter single player games.

"Dang, ND! Why not both?? Give 'em more resources, Sony!"

At least that's what I thought. But I really didn't think it could come at the cost of other studios getting gutted or shutdown at the time. Naïve or short-sighted on my part.

 

[thediamondage]

gut punch and I think if Microsoft is finally shutting down big studios it means things are going to get far, far worse as other publishers are gonna start panicking and think only of short term profits and shut down anything that isn't a clear line to making money soon.

Its also a weird time for Sony to be spending a ton of money ($26 billion) on buying Paramount studios, it means something but I'm not sure what. A return to passive entertainment as a priority rather than gaming is first instinct, but I think its more than that.

Hi Fi Rush was one of the neatest games I've played in the last few years so this is a real bummer. I've been expecting gamepass to get worse (ala netflix) for a while now, I think its still pretty good but I wonder if this is the day we look back as the turning point. Probably not specifically, I expect we'll see a big price hike soon and a far slower trickle of new games coming in.

 

[CenaToon]

Redfall was THAT a failure that makes Microsoft to axe the whole studio?? wow.

I dont know why the tango closure, but good luck everyone involved.

 

[flare]

Fucking insane. Absolute shit company MS is run by complete charlatans and fuck all acquisitions/consolidations man.

 

[Lamptramp]

Remember all the narratives during the acquisition spree? "Oh Microsoft is so rich that they can provide insulation for studios that make smaller games! Game Pass means no game can really fail!"

How'd that fucking work out for everybody?

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So much blindness about how gamepass and MS's wealth would protect these niche games giving choice for consumers and protection for developers.

The words rang hollow then, and its just heartbreaking to see it just be utter humbug, Those poor developers. :(

 

[DVCY201]

I feel for Tango, given their games have largely been critically well-received. I wonder if Shinji Mikami departing had any effect on this decision. I personally feel it's stupid. MS could be nurturing The Evil Within to be their premiere horror title and getting another HiFi Rush too.

 

[Iwao]

This is fucking devastating.

Makes you wonder about what success really is for Microsoft in gaming anymore. What's going to happen to studios like Ninja Theory, Double Fine and Compulsion if they don't have a game that is more than "a break out hit in all key measurements and expectations"?