The only surprise is it took this long (Microsoft/Metro.co.uk)
Microsoft has announced it is close three of Bethesda’s development studios, with the director of Deathloop calling it ‘absolutely terrible.’
Sometimes you get the feeling that maybe giant corporations buying up rival companies like they’re disposable trinkets isn’t such a good idea for this, or any other, industry. Although today’s news has come out of nowhere, in reality it’s not that much of surprise, as consolidation and closures inevitably always follow from a major acquisition.
Microsoft bought Bethesda parent company ZeniMax in 2020, for $7.5 billion (£5.85 billion), and so far the most successful product to be released by them has been the Fallout TV show.
Arkane Austin’s vampire-themed multiplayer game Redfall was an embarrassing disaster, while Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush was critically acclaimed but did not appear to sell well. Mobile developer Alpha Dog Games is less well known than the other two but made the well-received Mighty Doom.
Microsoft already cut almost 2,000 jobs across its Xbox business, including Bethesda, in January, shortly before the company revealed it is now worth more than $3 trillion. These new closures are in addition to that though, and it’s not yet clear exactly how many people will be made redundant.
Roundhouse Studios, former Prey (2006) developer Human Head Studios, will also be absorbed into The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios, presumably to work solely on that game and inevitably also involving some layoffs.
Arkane Studios is made up of two separate developers, with Arkane Lyon currently working on Marvel’s Blade and unaffected by the closure of Arkane Austin, who are best known for the reboot of Prey, with the team also co-developing Dishonored before they were split into a separate studio.
Tango Gameworks was rumoured to be working on both a Switch version of Hi-Fi Rush and a new horror game, perhaps The Evil Within 3. There’s a possibility the former could still happen, but certainly not the latter. Studio founder Shinji Mikami only left the company a few months ago, which suggests he may have already got wind of today’s events.
As a result, all development on Redfall will cease, but with a ‘make good’ offer for those that bought the Hero DLC but have still not received it. Support for Mighty Doom and Alpha Dog’s other mobile titles will also stop.
The closures were first reported by IGN, who got a hold of an internal email from Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty, who described the move as the result of a ‘reprioritisation of titles and resources.’
‘These changes are grounded in prioritising high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades,’ said Booty.
‘To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritisation of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us.’
Quite understandably, Arkane Lyon boss, and Deathloop co-director, Dinga Bakaba is furious at the news, stating in a series of tweets that: ’This is absolutely terrible. Permission to be human: to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.’
‘Don’t throw us into gold fever gambits, don’t use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don’t make our work environments Darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.’
‘For now, great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it’s a f***ing gut stab. Lyon is safe, but please be tactful and discerning about all this, and respect affected folks’ voice and leave it room to be heard, it’s their story to tell, their feelings to express.’
He ended, simply, with the please: ‘Please stop.’ Which is probably a forlorn hope.
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Although there did seem a chance that the spate of job cuts that have swept the industry (in the West at least, Japan has been essentially unaffected) would stop with the end of the current financial year in March, that’s clearly not the case.
It’s estimated that more than 10,000 video game developers may have lost their jobs in the last year and it’s baffling how publishers think they can continue to create a diverse portfolio of products without them, or tempt any newcomers into what is clearly an extremely risky business to be in, that does not value its workers in any appreciable way.
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