On Tuesday, it became clear that Microsoft is shutting down four game studios under the Bethesda umbrella. Among them are Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, the developers behind successes such as Prey, Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush.
The news has sent shockwaves through the gaming industry, and several developers have taken to social media to express both disappointment and despair. Among them is former Arkane developer Julien Eveillé, who very sarcastically referred to Microsoft as a “good partner”.
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Current Bethesda people, who therefore work for Microsoft, have also had their say on the situation. Arkane Lyon boss https://twitter.com/DBakaba/status/1787839169588265251 directed a jab at the management at Xbox, which he believes has not done a good enough job of helping the developers.
– This is absolutely terrible. Give me permission to be human: To all leaders reading this. This is a friendly reminder that gaming is an entertainment and culture industry and your job as a company is to take care of the artists and entertainers and help them create value for you,” said Bakaba, adding:
– You say that we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud in difficult times. We know you can do it. We’ve seen it before.
Mikey Dowling, one of the bosses at Microsoft-owned Obsidian Entertainment, asked more existential questions about the future of the gaming industry.
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Others, including the Helldivers 2 boss https://twitter.com/Pilestedt/status/1787879205763531106questioned why the studios had to be closed down.
– I don’t understand why Tango Gameworks is closing down. I mean, why close it instead of selling it? The team could certainly easily have found a new home, wrote Pilestedt.
Former Xbox and Blizzard top Mike Ybarra, for his part, chose to take the Xbox leadership to the defense. In a longer post on https://twitter.com/Qwik/status/1787914959541911727 Ybarra explained that this has probably been very difficult for Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. In response, however, several have pointed out that this is probably more difficult for those who actually lose their jobs.
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Tags: Developers reach Xbox studio closures
