After several Bethesda studios closed, Xbox and Bethesda leadership held a town hall meeting with employees to discuss the closures, stating that the company’s studios had been spread too thin and they wanted to focus on fewer projects in the future.
On May 7th Xbox announced the closure of three studios—Tango Gameworks (HiFi Rush), Arcane Austin (Redfall) and Alpha Dog Games (Mighty downfall) – with a fourth support studio, Roundhouse Studios, being taken over by the team behind it Elder Scrolls Online. According to a new report dated May 8th after these surprising closures
As reported by Bloombergduring the meeting Booty praised HiFi Rushbut doesn’t want to go into detail about why the studio behind the colorful action game was closed.
Discussing the closures more generally, Booty reportedly explained that Xbox and Bethesda’s studios had been stretched too thin, like “peanut butter on bread,” and that team leads were feeling understaffed. The idea was that by closing studios, Xbox would free up resources elsewhere in the company. Booty also told employees at the meeting that Akrane Austin’s closure was unrelated Redfall flopped with fans and critics.
Both Tango and Arkane Austin had reportedly unveiled games they wanted to work on next, including one HiFi Rush Sequel and possibly a new one Dishonored
Braff reportedly said she hoped closing some studios would allow Bethesda/Zenimax to focus on that fewer projects in the future.
“It is difficult to support nine studios around the world with a lean central team and an ever-expanding scope of work,” she said, according to a recording Bloomberg checked. “I think we’re close to tipping over.”
Tango and Arkane tried to hire more people while introducing new games, and both Braff and Booty reportedly claimed that the long and expensive road these teams had before they could release anything new was the main reason for that Closing the studios was the implication that this was simply bad timing as Microsoft looks to cut costs and overheads. It is reported that, according to interlocutors, further cuts are expected for Xbox Bloomberg
It is also reported that since massive $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023Microsoft executives have intensified their scrutiny of the Xbox division. The edge reported on Wednesday that executives at Microsoft and Xbox had discussed not adding call of Duty Add games to Game Pass and increase the price of Game Pass Ultimate. However, there is nothing concrete yet.
That Microsoft executives are becoming more interested in Xbox may explain why Booty and others are looking to cut costs. Either way, it’s likely that more people at Xbox will lose their jobs in the future.
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