In what is yet another devastating news story, a round of mass redundancies has hit the video game industry, this time impacting major Bethesda studios.
Micrisoft, a trillion-dollar company, has decided to close down Redfall and Prey developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within studio, Tango Gameworks as well as Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom mobile game) and Roundhouse Games. These recent layoffs from Microsoft follow the nearly 2,000 job losses earlier in the year.
Check out The Evil Within trailer below!
In an email which has been verified by IGN, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty informed staff of the most recent cost-cutting strategy stating that Microsoft is “further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds.”
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The closure of Arkane Austin also means that those who purchased the ‘Redfall Bite Back Edition’ won't be getting the bundled Hero Pass DLC as intended but Booty said that Microsoft will “make-good” offers in return to customers.
“[Arkane Austin] will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda,” said Booty in the email. “Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of.
“Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy.”
As for Tango Gameworks, the critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush recently benefited from a PlayStation 5 release and many fans hoped for The Evil Within 3, sadly, the latter is looking very unlikely at this stage. Roundhouse Games which was essentially ZeniMax Online Studios’ support for The Elder Scrolls Online will now be folded into one entity.
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“These changes are not a reflection of the creativity and skill of the talented individuals at these teams or the risks they took to try new things,” Booty continued. “We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”
It’s understood that MachineGames (Wolfenstein, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle) and Arkane Lyon (Dishonored, Marvel’s Blade) as well as id Software (DOOM) are safe, for now. We at GAMINGbible send our well-wishes to all those impacted by the job losses and we hope that they all find employment soon.
Featured Image Credit: MicrosoftTopics: Bethesda, Microsoft, PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, no article matching