Microsoft Game Studio closures

[SpyderTracks]

So Microsoft have announced they're closing 3 studios they very recently purchased as part of the Activision / Blizzard buyout.

These studios are:

Arkane Austin - The new Prey, Redfall, Deathloop, Dishonoured series
Tango Gameworks - Evil Within games, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-fi Rush
Alphadog - Wriathborne

This buyout was completed in March 2021, it's not as if they've had years of garnering poor performance data that's led them to realise these studios are defunct, this was a very recent acquisition that they seemed to have simply bought out to kill to prevent anyone else from picking up the game IP's. They didn't need to kill the companies, they could easily have sold them, certainly tango and arkane had a raft of incredibly successful titles

This is what I'm always wary of when Microsoft buys a Studio, because this is invariably what happens.

Skip to 28:40 here:

The Real Reason Your Favourite Game Studios Are Getting Closed Instead Of Sold

Spoiler alert: it's rational, but only if you're lacking human empathy

www.thegamer.com

 

[SpyderTracks]

For me, both Arkane and Tangoworks are huge losses.

The very original Prey which was released in 2006 was a MONUMENTAL game at the time, incredible story. When they announced the new one I throught it was going to be a remaster or second part, but it was a completely separate IP, and I was a bit gutted about that. But then when I played it (still haven't finished) it's a really great game. This was definitely one IP I was hoping for a few future chapters of to continue the story.

Deathloop as well gained a lot of fans as a really over the top fun shooter.

Both the Evil Within Games and Ghostwire were also superb ones, I especially like the Evil Withins as the horror genre, especially at that level of sickness is fairly rare to find so well polished. Ghostwire has a 9/10 review on Steam which in itself is rare!

 

[HomerJ]

homer doesnt like when things get consolidated, less competition less innovation

 

[AccidentalDenz]

Before Arkane Austin closes its doors, one of the last things they've done is release the final patch/update for Redfall. It seems to have fixed a lot of the easily fixable things with the game and added one or two fun things (including an offline mode so the game can continue once the servers are switched off), and it seems like it's done the job.

The Recent Reviews at at 78% so it's very close to the 80% Very Positive mark and I've seen a few who've reviewed or re-reviewed the game since and reckon it's probably worth a play through if you can get it for around £20 (the current standard price is now £34.99), so I'm very much thinking I'm going to jump on it in the Summer or Autumn sale if we get down around that value.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Before Arkane Austin closes its doors, one of the last things they've done is release the final patch/update for Redfall. It seems to have fixed a lot of the easily fixable things with the game and added one or two fun things (including an offline mode so the game can continue once the servers are switched off), and it seems like it's done the job.

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The Recent Reviews at at 78% so it's very close to the 80% Very Positive mark and I've seen a few who've reviewed or re-reviewed the game since and reckon it's probably worth a play through if you can get it for around £20 (the current standard price is now £34.99), so I'm very much thinking I'm going to jump on it in the Summer or Autumn sale if we get down around that value.

I’ve been keeping an eye on redfall and will definitely pick it up, reviews are very promising, it looks really good fun

 

[AccidentalDenz]

I’ve been keeping an eye on redfall and will definitely pick it up, reviews are very promising, it looks really good fun

It seems to me that ir probably needed another 6 months of full-time development to get it more or less straightened out, rather than 12 months of partial development post-release that it got

 

[HomerJ]

including an offline mode so the game can continue once the servers are switched off), and it seems like it's done the job

for once microsoft did a reasonable thing

 

[AccidentalDenz]

Tango Gameworks has been bought out, including the Hi-Fi Rush IP, so there's going to be a Hi-Fi Rush 2 or similar.

I'm a little sad that there probably won't be an Evil Within 3 (probably), but the studio keeping going is still a good thing!