Microsoft closes studios behind "Prey", "Redfall" and "Hi-Fi Rush"
The Bethesda studios Arkane, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog are being dissolved. The employees were informed by e-mail.
Microsofts continues to trim the games division. Following the 1,900 redundancies that followed the takeover of Activision Blizzard, Bethesda has now been hit. In an email to staff, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, announced that Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios and Roundhouse Studios will be closed. The latter will be integrated into Zenimax Online Studios in order to strengthen "The Elder Scrolls Online". The majority of the remaining employees are likely to end up on the street. It is not yet known how many people are affected.
Arkane Austin is responsible for the multiplayer vampire game "Redfall". Development of the game has been discontinued and the servers will remain online until further notice. The game was a critical and commercial failure. The multiplayer focus was primarily driven by the parent company Zenimax. Various employees had insisted in vain on a single-player title. With the space action role-playing game "Prey", they were at least successful with the critics. Arkade Lyon, the studio behind "Dishonored", "Deathloop" and the upcoming "Blade", is not affected by the redundancies.
The second studio, Tango Gameworks, is the team behind "Hi-Fi Rush" and "The Evil Within". The rhythm action game was surprisingly released a year ago following an Xbox livestream. The game has also been available for PS5 since March. It has been showered with praise. According to a high-ranking Xbox manager, it was a "surprise success" and they "couldn't be happier with the team." Apparently, this is not translating into permanent employment.
The third studio in the group is Alpha Dog. With "Mighty Doom", it has brought the cult shooter to the smartphone. The game is played from a bird's eye view and the Doomguy looks like a cuddly collector's toy - similar to those in the main game. The game will be released on 7 August.
Booty explains the move as follows: "We are making these tough decisions to create capacity for greater investment in other parts of our portfolio and to focus on our priority games," including the expansions to "Starfield" and "Fallout 76" as well as the new "Indiana Jones and The Great Circle".
The wave of redundancies in the games industry has already overtaken that of the previous year.
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