The recent shutting down of four development studios under Microsoft Gaming has shocked the world even after its historic merger deal of $76 billion with Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax, aka Bethesda. Those were Tango Gameworks, Arcane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios. All these studios were a part of ZeniMax Media, which is again a subsidiary company of Xbox Game Studios.
However, all these titles were doing pretty well. Arkane Austin’s Redfall might not have been the best co-op game recently, but the success of Tango Gamework’s Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within is evident in front of us. So, why did Microsoft have to take this harsh decision?
Activision Blizzard is Inadvertently Part of the Reason for the Studio Closures
As per Bloomberg.com, the real reason behind the axing of these studios was the hiring of new people. Last year, both Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks launched Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush, respectively. Redfall might have resulted in a big disaster, but they still promised to bring out more updates, including an offline mode and a character DLC, to make things slightly better.
However, Hi-Fi Rush was a big success for the developing studio. Despite being an Xbox first-party title, this game caught every eye on the PlayStation as well. After these two titles, both studios were then in search of more staff for their new projects, and reportedly, this was one of the factors behind the closure of these four studios.
There are other factors as well. One of them, according to Booty, is “reprioritization of titles and resources.” In an email sent by Booty to staff, he stated that for a better future in terms of high-impact titles and further investments, this strong decision has been abandoned.
What’s next for Xbox Game Studios?
The widespread cost-cutting initiative hasn’t yet come to any conclusion. This week, Xbox has started offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers, and other staff at ZeniMax. The other studios of ZeniMax, like Machine Games, Bethesda Game Studios, Id Software, and Arkane Lyon, survived the shutdown wave, but after these severance agreements, it’s quite uncertain how long they will survive as well.
Not only that, there are speculations as well that more cutting down and layoffs around the Xbox Gaming Studio are on the way. Now, after all these chaotic situations, Microsoft is being hugely criticized for its huge decision to acquire the Call of Duty developer for a mammoth $76 billion.
In recent years, Xbox has put its major focus on the Game Pass. However, this service hasn’t yet seen the massive growth that the company expected. According to Circana, video game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass have been seeing flat to low single-digit growth since the middle of 2021. Although there is no plan to stop this subscription service from Xbox, keeping in mind the vulnerable situation, anything can happen in the near future.
Let us know your opinion on these chaotic circumstances at Xbox Gaming Studios in the comment section.
