i wonder what state arkane austin were left in after redfall, and if the reported developer revolt / exodus is true. if so, maybe there was reason to close them down. still, that's some pretty big scalps.
arkane lyon's co creative director weighing in -
This is absolutely terrible. Permission to be human : to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.
— Dinga Bakaba (@DBakaba) May 7, 2024
Don't throw us into gold fever gambits, don't use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don't make our work environments darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.
Microsoft has now touched my two favourite studios: Ensemble and Arkane.
Can't believe they were eying Valve and Nintendo as well, probably wanna close those too.
Arkane Austin? Prey and Redfall are a must-have games for you?
They didn't just make Redfall 🙄
I know, which is why I included "Prey".
MS did not shut down Arkane Lyon, they shut down Arkane Austin. All Arkane Austin has done is Prey and Redfall. Dishonored, Blade, Deathloop - those are Arkane Lyon.
Can't we just roll back the 78 billion Activision purchase?
Can we rollback the 8 billion dollar Bethesda Purchase? I could give two shits about Arkane Austin and that mobile studio, but TANGO? After delivering Xbox one of their highest rated games this gen? That is beyond fucked up
It's becoming clear to me that as Game Pass growth has slowed, Xbox is increasingly looking to take an IP first approach to its consumer facing business.
That's not to say service and platform aren't still important, but that it seems like Xbox wants its games to be profitable… https://t.co/jjzMHgR3WW
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 7, 2024
“It's becoming clear to me that as Game Pass growth has slowed, Xbox is increasingly looking to take an IP first approach to its consumer facing business. That's not to say service and platform aren't still important, but that it seems like Xbox wants its games to be profitable as standalone titles. Previously, Xbox was looking at Game Pass as a way to offset development costs for its own first party titles. It doesn't look like that's the case anymore, and also helps explain their recent exploration of releases on competing platforms.”
Uh oh Lems. You better buckle up and make sure that belt is tight. Things might get pretty damn bumpy!
Can't we just roll back the 78 billion Activision purchase?
Can we rollback the 8 billion dollar Bethesda Purchase? I could give two shits about Arkane Austin and that mobile studio, but TANGO? After delivering Xbox one of their highest rated games this gen? That is beyond fucked up
Yeah it's not like Arkane ever built something wortwhile...
But yeah who gives a **** about singleplayer games anymore amirite
Such a breakout hit that the folks at Tango are getting some surprise time off!
“Why should we care about the financials of a multi-billion dollar corporation? Consumers should only worry about value.” This is why... Good games go away when the financials don’t work out.
Thanks Phil!
That quote aged so damn badly. That was back when his arrogant ass thought his company was just going to hand him infinite money forever to keep Xbox going based on his (worthless) cult of personality. As tradition, there's already a growing graveyard of studios from these acquisitions.
They literally thought they could gain ground in the industry by shocking the world from massive acquisitions thinking everyone would just drop Playstation and go with Xbox upon hearing about them. Then things just got worse
Cows have desperately needed something to distract from the shit show that is Sony.
There are very few acquisitions that hasn't lead to job losses. This is the biggest acquisition by a long way. So naturally losses will be bigger.
I feel bad for those losing jobs (some are being merged)
But I feel worse for gamers across all platforms. The good old days has been replaced with desperation to meet massivley increasing costs that will limit creativity and mean only safe games from now on.
Yeah it's not like Arkane ever built something wortwhile...
But yeah who gives a **** about singleplayer games anymore amirite
Arkane Lyon is the most important part of Arkane. It's really not like Prey 2017 was ever gonna get a sequel anyway. Making a game like Redfall was AA's call
Arkane Austin was in decline before the merger, they had issues with staffing because people wanted to work on immersive sims and the Redfall project was a departure from that.
Tango Gameworks is a little more surprising. Could be the studio fell apart after Mikami's departure, and perhaps he's setting up a new studio and now plans on taking the team with him. I doubt MS would have forced this given the success of HiFi Rush.
Hi fi rush was a critical success but not a financial one.
Yeah it's not like Arkane ever built something wortwhile...
But yeah who gives a **** about singleplayer games anymore amirite
Arkane Lyon is the most important part of Arkane. It's really not like Prey 2017 was ever gonna get a sequel anyway. Making a game like Redfall was AA's call
And yet the people who made the decision (Pete Hines) get to take none of the blame, while hard working devs are out of a job, brilliant.
@ghostofgolden: gaming is bloated, and sad to say there will be layoffs as a result. Just look at the amount of games available...frankly its ridiculous. There are more games than people will ever play in multiple life times. Do game studios think that people just shut themselves indoors all day, not work, not exercise, not go to school, not learn, not have any other hobbies and just play video games all day. I realized this with gamepass...I mean there are so many quality games that I will never even get to try because of lack of time.
Kind of bummed about Tango Gameworks as I did very much enjoy their games. Shinji Makami had left though so not sure how things would have fared there regardless.
Can't we just roll back the 78 billion Activision purchase?
God, I wish the FTC didn't screw up the lawsuit like they did. They had the right idea beyond that.
They didn't really screw up, the laws to block that merger just aren't there. Courts have spent the last 50 years poking whatever holes they could find in our anti trust regulations. FTC is finally trying to be serious on that stuff again, but there just isn't a whole lot they can do. Got to get consumer/worker focused reforms through congress, and good luck with that these days.
LOL, closing Arkane Austin even though executives at Bethesda are the ones who forced them to make the game and called all the shots, yet those executives are still there and even if they are fired they will get a golden parachute. Free market and all, I thought it's accountable and rewards competency.
@ghostofgolden: gaming is bloated, and sad to say there will be layoffs as a result. Just look at the amount of games available...frankly its ridiculous. There are more games than people will ever play in multiple life times. Do game studios think that people just shut themselves indoors all day, not work, not exercise, not go to school, not learn, not have any other hobbies and just play video games all day. I realized this with gamepass...I mean there are so many quality games that I will never even get to try because of lack of time.
Really?! That's your take now? Xbox stans cheered these acquisitions because they thought it would, and I quote, "create more value for Game Pass". Now, Xbox is shedding studios post-acquisition not only leaving a future with less output, but now they're claiming to be doubling down on established IPs which means even more studios aren't going to make the cut. I bet studios like Double Fine and Ninja Theory are sweating bullets right now.
We don't know what the fate of these studios would have been before the purchase, we just know MS isn't finding value in them now despite putting them on a pedestal earlier. The ABK/Bethesda purchase only seems to be a trojan horse to shedding these publishers down to their most valuable IPs dusting their hands of the rest
@pc_rocks: who ever said that the free market or anything created by men are without flaws? And you are focusing on the misdeeds from one company as a representative of all companies in the industry?
Sometimes, I feel the jaded attitudes and cynicism from posters on System Wars amusing.
This doesn't surprise me one way or another as MS said it many times loses will be continuing this year until they have got what MS needed in order to continue business on making games.
Sad but both Sony/MS knew the risks when we enter 2024 and this is the reality everyone is facing now. Hate seeing Xbox brand is in so much damage control.
This doesn't surprise me one way or another as MS said it many times loses will be continuing this year until they have got what MS needed in order to continue business on making games.
Sad but both Sony/MS knew the risks when we enter 2024 and this is the reality everyone is facing now. Hate seeing Xbox brand is in so much damage control.
What do you mean with risks? Bloated video game budgets? What is gonna put a stop to this?
like what's the point of Game pass if you're not gonna have immersive sims.
Shit service.
Which is why I don't bother with GP like that! Good for those that likes Game Pass but it does nothing for me.
Moving forward, I’ll still buy MS games on PC that interest me but beyond owning their console, I'm pretty much done with MS machines. Owning Xbox Series S was just for retro gaming.
@pc_rocks: who ever said that the free market or anything created by men are without flaws? And you are focusing on the misdeeds from one company as a representative of all companies in the industry?
Sometimes, I feel the jaded attitudes and cynicism from posters on System Wars amusing.
One company? As in it's just one corporation that do this? How many do you want me to name where they fire employees for higher ups blunders and then give the same people bonuses for 'cost reduction'? And lest you forget that one company is the most valuable company in the world.
The only instances where this doesn't happen is small businesses run by people who themselves go through what everyday people go through.
Man what a massive shit show. No wonder Shinji Mikami left Tango Gameworks. He definitely knew the fate of the company for a while. I hope his new studio does well.
like what's the point of Game pass if you're not gonna have immersive sims.
Shit service.
Which is why I don't bother with GP like that! Good for those that likes Game Pass but it does nothing for me.
Moving forward, I’ll still buy MS games on PC that interest me but beyond owning their console, I'm pretty much done with MS machines. Owning Xbox Series S was just for retro gaming.
I always hate to see studios closing and people losing jobs, but we're talking about Redfall, Prey, Hi-Fi Rush, mobile Doom, and some parts are merging. Not a whole lot was lost overall. I suppose The Evil Within might be the biggest one for me and I don't care about that either. Like I said Studios closing are awful, but at least it's not anything I care about gameplay wise although I'm sorry for those of you that feel otherwise...
Funny how they say reprioritizing high profile games... lol. Wasn't it ms that said huge AAA games are going the way of the dinosaur and gamepass was the future with more sustainable indies and AA games? Why the sudden change of heart? Are we about to get two CoD games a year now? (Actually I already know they are working on two CoD games this year... a ftp game and Gulf War). Or perhaps they are planning to release a few extra AAA games each year on Gamepass at the expense of a larger monthly selection. The later would be my guess, and they will likely supplement the lineup by working closer with porting PC games (especially more in early access) to strengthen their bond with merging consoles with PCs... which is almost entirely inevitable at some point now, if you ask me.
Milking a few big franchises won't work out the way they hope it does unless they are trying to make the games better or add competition. Removing options is never the way forward, especially for a service, but perhaps they are planning to start buying the publishing rights to smaller titles or newer studios and really dive into the PC side of things in able to grow content in a cheaper way and have more 2nd and 3rd party partnered studios.
It's cheaper, less micromanagement, and the blame doesn't fall on their shoulders if a game releases and stinks the place up. Win/win?
Regardless of what happens the industry is all over the place right now. I hope they find their way forward and things stabilize in the industry soon, because right when it looked as though gaming was getting back to being good again all of this happens... hopefully it will all turn out for the best in the end.
This doesn't surprise me one way or another as MS said it many times loses will be continuing this year until they have got what MS needed in order to continue business on making games.
Sad but both Sony/MS knew the risks when we enter 2024 and this is the reality everyone is facing now. Hate seeing Xbox brand is in so much damage control.
What do you mean with risks? Bloated video game budgets? What is gonna put a stop to this?
When Sony bought Bungie, it cost them too much money and without any diminishing-returns, expect layoffs or canceled projects. Plus, all those Covid-19 benefits are going away also plays a factor into these layoffs. But MS spend a hefty price on Activision/Blizzard and that too will cause a massive layoffs.
The only way to stop this is if MS and Sony can release good games and make more sales on the hardware consoles. All of that is gonna take long to see investment returns.
@Nonstop-Madness: It's almost like between them and other streaming services they've convinced the world that paying for quality entertainment is wrong.
There are obviously other factors, but for those that preferred the entertainment of the past, is it not clear that we used to spend a lot more for it?
Arkane Austin was in decline before the merger, they had issues with staffing because people wanted to work on immersive sims and the Redfall project was a departure from that.
Tango Gameworks is a little more surprising. Could be the studio fell apart after Mikami's departure, and perhaps he's setting up a new studio and now plans on taking the team with him. I doubt MS would have forced this given the success of HiFi Rush.
Arkane Austin dropped the ball hard but Tango Gameworks closure is confusing. Were they solely working on Hi Fi Rush the whole time? That would be weird.
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