In the most devastating video game industry news we’ve seen in a week, Xbox is shutting down four Bethesda studios. Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush, The Evil Within), Arkane Austin (Redfall, Prey), Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), and Roundhouse Studios will all be shut down, and projects they were working on will be terminated.
Massive losses for the gaming industry
Tango Gameworks released one of the more exciting and lovable new games in Hi-Fi Rush last year, and to see that story put to a close so soon is heartbreaking. According to VP of Xbox Games Marketing Aaron Greenberg, Hi-Fi Rush was considered a “breakout hit.” To see the studio closed now is baffling. They took a chance on a game that was completely outside of their horror background and nailed it in every possible way and were still let go.
Arkane Austin also released their most recent game, Redfall, in 2023. While the game was plagued with issues and will now never receive the promised DLC it promised, this was another very talented studio. Their work on Prey in 2017 was another very interesting game that a lot of people enjoyed. While they were in recent disarray, gigantic corporations like Microsoft and Zenimax could have found ways to turn their fortune around.
When will it stop?
Needless to say, this is more terrible news for an industry that has seen an unprecedented amount of layoffs and closures recently. Just earlier this year, Xbox laid off 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard companies. We couldn’t find the employee numbers of all four studios, so we can’t even begin to guess how many more people are losing their jobs. Game developers deserve better when they put so much of their life into the products that make multi-billion dollar companies richer.
Like the many thousands of other layoffs and closures, you should feel bad right now. Xbox has the means to be better and they simply are failing in every conceivable way. If they are going to walk around purchasing 95% of their upcoming first-party lineup, they deserve to be held to an even higher standard.
