In an internal email that IGN was leaked, announced Matt Booty in his role as head of Xbox Game Studios, announced the closure of four studios affiliated with Bethesda. Microsoft only took over Bethesda's parent company Zenimax in 2020 and thereby gained control over the now closed studios.
Arkane Austin, a subsidiary of Arkane Studios, is set to close, making it the studio most recently responsible for Redfall was responsible. As a consequence, the announced offline mode for the game will no longer be delivered because there will be no further updates. Had it Peter Hines, Head of Publishing at Bethesda, announced further improvements to the game in September to increase the attractiveness of the game pass. Redfall was released in 2023 and is considered a major failure that represents the problems of the live service model in player acquisition.
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Tango Gameworks, known for, is also set to close Ghostwire Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within. This announcement is particularly surprising since Hi-Fi Rush was a surprise hit for the Xbox just last year. Just recently I also had Aaron GreenbergVice President of Xbox Games Marketing, called the game a huge success that exceeded all expectations.
The Roundhouse Games studio will also be closed. The team should not be laid off here, but rather it will be completely integrated into Zenimax Online Studios in order to continue working The Elder Scrolls Online to work. The studio had previously emerged from Human Head Studios, which, among other things Prey (2006) as well as Brink had developed well-known games.
There is no such parachute for Alpha Dog employees. The studio that created the top-down shooter Mighty Doom developed for mobile devices should be closed completely.
Last year, Embracer Group's financial problems led to many studio closures. While the layoffs there are now over and the group will instead be divided into three parts, the crisis in the games industry will now continue in 2024 – as is now the case with Microsoft – through the closure of other groups' studios. Take-Two recently announced the closure of two studios, including Intercept Games, the makers of Kerbal Space Program 2and failed independent studios like Keoken Interactive.
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So far, however, there has been no talk of money worries at the Microsoft Group. And the Bethesda group itself hasn't given off a particularly negative image recently, as the recently released Fallout series was a great success, resulting in a lot of interest in the Fallout game brand generated.