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Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda

Aaron Olive

Member
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Angry Star Trek GIF
 

Hohenheim

Member
Wow.. that's brutal. Tango has produced nothing but great titles. Very sad to see them close down.
Really bad news.

I'd much rather see them stop releasing those mediocre COD games every year, and let the staff use their creativity and skills on real games. But this is a business, and where the money goes.. etc..
Fucking sad.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Um....excuse me?

@SneakersSO

Fuck it, get them all here to comment.

DarkMage619 DarkMage619 Riky Riky

I would dig up some comments from the Activision acquisition thread but really can't be asked, everyone knows the gist by now.

These brainless jokers are just an extension of Microsoft's PR/marketing teams and will do what's necessary on their behalf across multiple forums and social platforms in order for Microsoft to get what they want. But the moment something goes wrong in the exact way every rational person tells them it will, they are nowhere to be seen.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I find it interesting in gaming that when shit hits the fan the entire studio just gets axed. I guess management thinks they don’t have the skill to get another project going next time because like any company out there you can always find them work on another thing if the current product line stinks. You only gas people if the skill set isn’t transferable, or sales truly sinks and there’s no hope in the future. I guess once a studio bombs management has no confidence they’ll make a good one next time and they prefer to axe it or rebuild into a new studio of people.

But at my work let’s say an entire product line sucks and has low sales and will be shut down. Unless there’s no alternatives, the company will move them to other teams or they just make the next product line and wait for sales for that one.
 
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Sea of Thieves is selling very well, and it's on GP, and it's older than Hi-Fi Rush so you can't really state that logically. I think the truth of the matter is, no matter how much I like both games, Ghostwire and Hi-Fi Rush have been released on everything and apparently bombed on everything. GP is possibly the biggest chunk of money they got for both games.

I do agree with you though that there's more to it. Shinji Mikami leaving didn't make much sense either, and his statements were pretty cryptic.

Sea of Thieves is selling very well in Japan? On Xbox?
 

yazenov

Member
This is why a lot of us were against consolidation. All the people who were cheerleading MS buying Bethesda have eggs on their faces now. This also shows that GamePass player metrics are bullshit.


MS was boasting about the number of downloads and players on GamePass with Hifi Rush and they still shut Tango Gameworks down. MS is a cancer to gaming and the quicker people realize this the better off gaming will be. They aren’t interested in adding anything substantial to gaming, they are here to be parasites and leech of everyone else’s success.

I can kinda understand them shutting down Arkane Austin (even though Redfall’s failure wasn’t their fault and it was all MS’ doing) but why shut down Tango? Hifi Rush was the best Xbox game released this gen. It was also the best new IP MS has had in years and they still got shut down lol. If that doesn’t prove MS doesn’t give a fuck about gaming, I don’t know what else does.

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



 
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MaKTaiL

Member
I don't care about what anyone says, I loved Deathloop. Sad to see the studio being shut down. You can clearly see how muich love and care they put in the game.
 

clarky

Gold Member
Always fimd it odd, closing decent studios.

Why not just sell them or let management buy themselves out super cheap?
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Obsidian is next once avowed doesn’t do the numbers they want.

Tango can be easily required by Mikamis new studio if he wants the talented ones from the lot.

I did my part. I bought every Tango game, and aside from EW1, they were all mid at best.
 

T4keD0wN

Member
See, don't worry fellas. They already did what they wanted, which is probably just all the IPs. The rest is "expandable".
Wouldn't be surprised if they kill Bethesda entirelly and keep Elder Scrolls for them.
To be fair according to that ign report at least some of the Arkane devs will move to their other studios and Roundhouse seems to be absorbed by the Elder Scrolls Online studio, situation is bad, but not that bad. At least yet...
Redfall will be our most supported game post-launch.
-Phil Spencer
So relatable to gamers everywhere, uncle Phil is just like my dad.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
What can we take out of this? That MS is only interested in big games only and not in smaller ones like what Tango was able to output?

That's just so sad if true. When they announced the Activision deal Phil came out on stage with an Hexen II t-shirt, making me guess (or hope) that they were going to revive some of those desd IPs owned by Activision, like Heretic, Hexen, Soldier of Fortune...

Guess all that was fucking nothing and all we'll see from that deal is more COD than ever.
 

Bridges

Member
It’s a bummer Hi-Fi Rush didn’t come to PS5 sooner. Maybe it could’ve saved the studio.

Seems like that releasing stuff for Gamepass day 1 isn’t a viable business model. It’s only a matter of time until the plug is pulled on Gamepass in its current form.

Not sure if Kinect or Gamepass was a bigger commercial flop.
Actually, it seems like it didn't do too well on PlayStation either. I wonder if that was the final nail in the coffin to say "if even PlayStation users aren't buying it, these guys aren't salvageable".

Obviously I don't have the financials to make an informed decision, but if I were running Xbox I'd prioritize keeping Tango around just to keep a Japanese presence.

Also at this point, I don't think there's ever a way to put the genie back in the bottle when it comes to Game Pass
 
Barely anything is selling in Japan. And all of Tango's games are on PS, so that obviously isn't the reason.

My point was that once Shinji Mikami left, people would leave with him and that Microsoft would struggle to recruit people to generally make Xbox games and games that would end up on GamePass Day 1.
 
This industry is fuked. The console industry, that is (outside of Nintendo).

Seriously, out of nowhere, this. Arkane Austin I can understand; RedFail was a disaster and no one was gonna play it even if they ported it to other platforms. But didn't Good Guy Phil™ just tout how happy they were with HiFi Rush's critical acclaim? Didn't the Xbox fanbase do the same? It was also one of the first games to get ported over. Microsoft's only internal Japanese dev team....gone, just like that. You can kiss that rumored JRPG goodbye as well, from the sounds of it.

I always knew this type of thing was going to happen with a once-platform holder basically going 3P. Happened with SEGA, happened with Atari, happened with SNK, happened with 3DO etc. But to shut down Tango Gameworks is crazy. That was one of the better Zenimax studios, and added some much-needed variety in Microsoft's output. Very easy now to see why Shinji Mikami left; he literally saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to be out of work once the studio was closed. Considering everything he went through to establish Tango, not to mention cultivate the talent, this one must really hurt for him.

But don't worry, I'm sure some of our swell pals on the Purple Forum will "acktwually" explain why this isn't such a bad thing. I'm sure Vigilante Joker is polishing the final edit of his pitch right now. I hope those 🤡who were capping for the ABK acquisition feel their much-deserved shame and realize how utterly moronic they actually were the entire time.



That is one absolute positive to hear in all of this. That MS probably won't be pursuing anymore major gaming acquisitions for a VERRRYYYY long time. So the corporate cheerleading taint-lickers around other parts can STFU about their fantasies for more publisher acquisitions by MS once and for all.

I still think MS might pick up a few studios here and there. Certain Affinity, Crystal Dynamics for example. But it's gonna be at least a good decade if not longer before they even consider eying another gaming publisher. They need to organize and maximize what they've already acquired.

Still though, shutting down Tango Gameworks of all studios is rather insane. They had some of the best potential.
 
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clarky

Gold Member
Obsidian is next once avowed doesn’t do the numbers they want.

Tango can be easily required by Mikamis new studio if he wants the talented ones from the lot.

I did my part. I bought every Tango game, and aside from EW1, they were all mid at best.


I forgot Mikami had fucked off, kinda males more sense now.
 
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At this point honestly Microsoft simply destroys everything they touch
I still can't get over the fact that they are closing tango
 
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