It has been a rough few days for the gaming community as games like Helldivers 2 take a massive hit with a review bomb to show Sony that gamers won’t accept their silly account linking policy, while Microsoft jumps on the bad news bandwagon by closing down 4 different studios all at once.
These four different studios have all created different games that have sadly had a rough time in terms of sales and attention-getting, except for Hi-Fi Rush. These studios are Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games, which were all in charge of releasing a few games that sadly fell through.
After this recent announcement, Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt released a tweet commenting on the recent news, but sadly, it didn’t go the way he planned.
Johan Pilestedt Speaks His Mind About the Recent Closures Thanks to Microsoft
There have been many challenges for the gaming community over the past few weeks, but seeing numerous closures regarding hard-working studios that have a lot of potential for future success is something not many people like to see.
One of these people is Johan Pilestedt, the CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, who took to Twitter/X to share his two pence on the situation, explaining:
I don’t understand the closure of @TangoGameworks, I mean… Why close instead of divest? Surely the team would easily have been able to find a new home. 🤷♂️
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 7, 2024
Unfortunately, this didn’t end well, as other Twitter/X users began to share their opinions regarding this rather sensitive situation.
@xgameslashx I am sorry for my tweet. It was unfair of me to assume bad intent. I guess I'm a bit sensitive since the weekend.
— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) May 7, 2024
Anyhow, I left a proper response, and thank you for being a Diver. ❤️
After receiving a response to his tweet calling his post “shameless” and “irrelevant” Pilestedt began to apologise for his tweet, acknowledging that “I’m a bit sensitive since the weekend”.
Helldivers 2 CEO Johan Pilestedt Apologizes for Their Comment, but It May Not Be Entirely Wrong
As stated above, after the recent tweet from Johan Pilestedt regarding the closures of these four different studios, another Twitter/X user responded by describing Johan Pilestedt in a rather shameless light.
After apologising for his comments, Pilestedt explained that they are sorry for their comment and explained that they are unaware as to whether or not these closures were to do with bad intent or just down to a simple decision made by Microsoft.
Due to the recent upset that has been taking place within the Helldivers 2 community, it makes complete sense that Johan Pilestedt is in a rather rough situation and feeling slightly sensitive at this current time. but this collection of tweets shows it very clearly.
It's quite simple. This allows them to preserve the only value of the asset, the IP rights, while making it so that they can remove the parts of the studio that do not provide any value. The IP has potential future value, but the current configuration of the studios (with the…
— Bemused Observer (@PanopticonBot) May 7, 2024
Luckily, this unfortunate interaction has ended after Pilestedt’s apology, but many other users have issued their opinions and responses to the current situation as they put forward their own theories as to why Microsoft closed down these studios. The most common theory is that gamers believe Microsoft would rather close down the studios and keep the IPs than just sell the studios off, but again, this is only a theory.
What do you think about this unfortunate situation? Why do you think Microsoft has closed down these different studios? Let us know in the comments what you think!
