Microsoft Cracks Down on Xbox and Closes Studios

Microsoft is taking a more active in the Xbox division, they closed down Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and more. The Activision Blizzard purchase comes with a very hefty price tag indeed.
#xbox #hifirush #layoffs

[@rurikhan]

CORRECTION: Zenimax would have been the ones to pressure Arkane Austin to work on Redfall, not Microsoft. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@miyamotom5015]

My man, sitting in the car, recording and producing more quality Videos than other people do at Home 😂 ❤

[@ac1dflare937]

Microsoft did NOT force Arkane to make a live service game. That Was the heads of Zenimax who were trying to inflate sale price. The only thing MS is responsible for is not killing it sooner. Now either they were incompetant or Arkane lied about how it was going. Either way its not good. This is not to absolve MS here, they have been so incompetant its almost a masterclass in mismanagement and blame shifting

[@TheMrrccava]

I mean Microsoft forced it out early too, that wasn't even Zenimax lmao redfall was a 3 tiered shitty mistake but shouldn't have cost Arkane Austin everything.

[@DragonFangX]

Toys For Bob dodged a super bullet when they departed from Acti-Blizz to go Indie.

[@Hadeshi.]

After Microsoft bought Ninja Theory what did they release? Bleeding Edge, i bet no one remembers this game, a multiplayer nobody cares about, another example of a studio good at making single player games end up making a multiplayer thanks to MS.

[@apollodingo3583]

Actually microosft didn’t tell arkane to make redfall. That was a decision made before they purchased it

[@ac1dflare937]

Yup

[@GoB1996]

It was their decision to turn it from a single player experience into a live service coop shooter though… they still fucked them

[@lucasrodriguez8957]

​@@GoB1996 I believe that is not true, Bethesda was looking to capitalize on the live service trend and focusing on that, making games like ESO and Fallout 76, Redfall is another one of those titles from this time. Microsoft still decides to ship it and that was probably a mistake. Should have been scrap.

[@johndodo2062]

​@@GoB1996nobody forced arkane to make the game poorly. Making games isn't black magic like idiots online would believe. They did a bad job they were forced to do. Boo hoo. I don't want to do my job at all and if i do it poorly, i lose it. The real world applies to game devs too chief

[@amirhossein1817]

​@@johndodo2062They did exactly that. Over 2/3 of arkane Austin workers left during development of redfall. These people didn't want to make this game. And of course, when everyone leaves, the game's gonna show its understaffed

[@Gharon]

The fact that you couldn't remember the full title of Hellblade 2 speaks volumes about how hard Xbox dropped the ball in marketing this game. I had to look it up as well just now, and i loved the first game. But hey, at least the guys at the top earn millions in bonuses each and every year...

[@paulypipes3082]

They will throw is on gamepass and it will ruin the game lmao

[@lucasrodriguez8957]

Redfall was in development before the acquisition by Microsoft.

[@Spectacular_Insanity]

Gotta love how XBOX and Microsoft is cutting themselves off at the knees thinking that it's going to help them run faster.

[@proggz39]

Legs they grafted on from former talented 3rd party developers

[@TheKotor2309]

Ninja Theory is definitely in danger of being closed. With the tech that they’re putting into the next game, it would totally make sense to shut down the studio after the release and use the tech in all their other games instead of relegating it to just one franchise.

[@cj7011]

Ninja theory brings something the other studios didn't and that is their unique take on the psychological aspect of the games they make.

[@sakuragi1062]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@cj7011Ninja Theory is not the first to do that Remedy did the whole psychological thing first with Control,Alan wake 1 and 2 and creating Unique games does not matter if those wont sell Tango is literally a unique studio and Microsoft close them down

[@BoknoyBuhisan]

@@cj7011 and the evil within also has that in spades. ninja theory will be lucky to survive the year.

[@monkeylungs3479]

​@@cj7011Yeah and this is very pretentious and one of the worst ideas incorporated into their game. They should have just made a bad ass viking fantasy adventure game. They have also spent a considerable amount of time making this sequel that will lose money.

[@DivineHunter1995]

Car video

[@rurikhan]

Yeah! That’s my home recording studio, the soundproofing is top tier.

[@Saintbalor]

Sorry, what?... I'm not gonna stand here and defend Microsoft, but Microsoft has owned Zenimax for about 3 years, and they reportedly left them to operate as separate business, meaning Arkane Austin is still managed by Zenimax. Additionally, Redfall was in production way before Microsoft acquired Zenimax, they had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of that game. Yes, this is still shitty, but putting all the blame on Microsoft is just not accurate.

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

Creation. No. Release yes. They're still the publisher responsible for quality control. They knew the state of the game and shipped it regardless. They bought it, they own it.

[@Fokkusu]

microsoft's fault was doing nothing while zenimax kept ruining everything and then shutting shit down cuz it wasnt doing well, they should have fired Zenimax instead and move the devs into independent studios or something, anything except this... where now we have zenimax still but lost all of the good devs lol (not literally but you get my point)

[@maharaja101]

No, I was not aware that Hellblade 2 was releasing in two weeks, thank you for asking. Makes me kinda fear for Ninja Theory as I don't think this shadow drop strategy worked all that well for Tango.

[@wolfair]

that zoom was peak comedy horror material.

[@skulltula1352]

You look like you're recording from a space ship cockpit. Nice 👍

[@Hadeshi.]

Not only there is no marketing, Hellblade 2 is also digital only, so if you dont open the game store often you might actually miss it. 😅 Maybe they're thinking if they shadow drop it, it might be sucessful like HiFi Rush. 😅

[@ac1dflare937]

And $50 so it has to sell more to recoup costs. Again a MS decision, just like Hifi Rush having lower cost and in that case ZERO marketing. If you were paranoid, you would suggest MS want Ninja theory to fail....

[@Vince6467]

Red fall was being made before Microsoft acquired them, you’re very much off the point on that whole speal. Arcane wanted something different, Microsoft allowed them to continue there vision.

[@StormyWeathery]

and people say Microsoft was going to save cod lol (are you share about it meme)

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

We need more than the big 3. They either need to get smaller or others need to get bigger. They just have too much power. I don’t really play AAA games, so I don’t feel the loss directly, but the health of the industry is still beneficial to all gamers and I’d love to hear some good news for once.

[@ZeroheartX]

OMG a new controller!

[@Titan-sq6yl]

I don't care about arcane Austin But why did they have to close Tango game works?I love Ghost wire tokyo one of the best games i've played a hifi rush Was so fun.I mean, seriously.They need to get there shit together

[@Omega77232]

really ghost wire is unironically one of the best games for you?

[@Titan-sq6yl]

Yes I played it when it came to game pass and I fricking loved it. It was short but so fun 😁

[@namelesshunter4714]

it didn't sell well.

[@ashesofaranea]

it did get a few good patches to make the combat better, nothing insane but i'd play it again

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

They did make CoD money. That's all they want out of their purchase.

[@Lunar_Yojimbo]

😅 true thank you for information and have good days 🍻👍

[@micpango]

Ninja theory is mostly like the next one with the way they are treating it. I highly doubt they do it right after the release but with in a year. After that they probably won’t do it again.

[@lvisjo]

hey ruri! on the topic of physical vs. digital, i think you might be a bit mistaken. yes, there has been times where the full game is not on disc/cartridge, but that is nowhere near the norm. with discs, the download you get when inserting it is actually just the game copying off the disc and into the console, which doesn’t need any internet connection. hope that made sense and maybe makes you reconsider physical editions of games :) i myself love collecting physically and am still waiting on the Chained Echoes publishers…

[@GameOverMan76]

There's numerous reports about games being just cd keys nowadays and even physical games have to check in to servers so when servers are shut down then even modern physical games can't be played other than legacy titles from yesteryear. Pcs are all digital nowadays and consoles goin that way too.

[@slashinghades7347]

​​@@GameOverMan76 That isn't remotely true. I collect many PS4/5 and Switch games physically and the vast majority of them are playable with no internet or never updating.

[@GameOverMan76]

@@slashinghades7347 Pc's are all digital tho and soon playstation and xbox will be. I don't play switch and ive got a 4080super

[@joshuaknox2724]

LMAO WHAT they nuked Phil's fallout 76 camp!? gamers are hilarious i love it.

[@CavangoVulgora]

😂😂

[@Bleeksan0]

Line goes up 📈

[@ed61730]

Most new games are started 1 to even 4 years before the studio finishes their last game. They need to make a small team for demos and pitches, create ideas and then script the story even before things get greenlit. If a studio has no projects on before the last game releases. That's only because all their pitches and demos didn't get greenlit. Or if everyone left the company....

[@TwinLeaf123]

Muta's camera angle.

[@LuciferHunter-kt7pm]

Was Redfall supposed to be a single player game before the acquisition?

[@YouTubeCensors]

No, it was basically a GaaS game.

[@joshuawilson6310]

I don't see Obsidian getting axed after outerworlds. Theirs still the rumored kotor remake, especially since EA is now longer making starwars after outlaws. If not that then they'll probably be place on Fallout Remakes. That was released through lawsuit with buying Blizzard/Activision.

[@robardian3697]

I thought Ubisoft was making Outlaws?

[@joshuawilson6310]

@@robardian3697 Ubisoft did but EA holds a significant share of the company that was an attempted hostile take-over imo. Also in Bob igers press release they listed them together so I just said E.A. As they are the main company losing rights to making Starwars games my guess is Ubisoft will be next if Outlaws flops. With Eclipse by Quantic Dream having no release date. Its looking rough and Disney hemorrhaging money i expect alot more to be cut or postponed.

[@StillWeRide]

Man Im a sony fanboy through amd through...but xbox get it together. Tango? Rip. They were great. Im loving hifi on ps5. Hellblade 2 is the first xbox game Im jealous of....and Ori. Hellblade does look great. I really believe gamepass hurts devs and the industry and us the consumers in the long run. it just doesnt add up with how much games cost to make.

[@Rello84]

how long until some portuguese food reviews in the car 😂

[@aner_bda]

STONKS GO UP! 🚀🌕🙌

[@ed61730]

These cuts are all to do with the success of the Fallout show. MNS is crabling to ensure they can get out f5 and maybe even some spinoffs faster.

[@LuciferHunter-kt7pm]

How did that guy even get through High School with a name like Booty?

[@martyden9006]

Dude is rich.... they probably kissed his booty

[@petermokran381]

yeah bro but that controller is fire though

[@ShivaX51]

Microsoft fucking up their gaming division after saying they're going be big in gaming is as tale as old as time.

[@Prockski]

You can divest yourself of a company and keep IP. Embracer Group got rid of Gearbox but kept the rights to the Remnant franchise.

[@jacktaylor3636]

How are you going to shut down the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush and then say you want more games like Hi-Fi Rush? First Sony and now Microsoft

[@hackroots02]

Ekbokk!!

[@totalwarlock9498]

just because the studios are closing it doesnt mean theyre just getting rid of the people, most of the talent had already left tango studio and theyre just absorbing thepeople left and putting them on more projects at least from what ive read and been told

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

No. That's only happened to one of the four studios. Neither of which are Arkane or Tango. The Tango departure happened before the launch of HiFi Rush.

[@spacechannelfiver]

@@pixeljauntvr7774 Arkane Austin bled most of its talent during the production of Redfall. Key staff left Tango during the production of Ghostwire and the founder left after HiFi Rush. Tameem has left Ninja Theory.

[@petermokran381]

M$ this year like: chop, chop, chop, chop, dice, dice , dice, dice.

[@Zlei.]

I'm looking at May 21st as the Release Date for Ninja Theory at this point... Pack your bags, it's going to be Modern Warfare at Microsoft.

[@skulltula1352]

Yea Microsoft pretty much just unalived themselves.

[@CRYPTiCEXiLE]

blizzard next lol maybe for the best at this point :P

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

All live service games which make a ton of money.

[@leukocyte6100]

Small game to win prestige and awards huh.... Sounds like they're pivoting for games for modern audience.

[@jlstruyde]

Instead of closing studio's couldnt Microsoft just sell them to sony, nintendo, or whatever? Maybe not put people out of jobs... idk?

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

They want to keep all the IP's. Greedy.

[@barcster2003]

That's not going to happen. Although I do think Nintendo and Sony will pick up some developers

[@EmpReb]

Most of the industry wasted the end of cheap money in covid era and now doesn't know what to do with tight money on investors and consumers REPEATALY not buying AAA hyped products if they show signs of sucking. Then companies like Sony try to kill fluke hits with idiotic moves and I think we are in a slow mo crash of the traditional AAA industry considering to Gacha game companies made better new AAA games than the OG guys (Stellar Blade and Grandblue Fantasy: Relink.) The industry needs a crash to shuffle the deck at this point cause the big old players just suck now.

[@asmo8725]

There is 0 point in marketing a game that will get near 0 sales. Gamepass makes 1 time purchase game kinda bad for business

[@Arnveld]

It's insanity what's going on... I can't imagine how people in obsidian feel, and ofc how people who got fired are feeling.

[@wardmeeks66]

I don't even know what to say about all of this bs at this point lol I honestly don't understand why they're doing this smh 🤦

[@Nagrandt]

Phil Spencer? More like Phil Spectre

[@micah329]

Why soend billions just to close down the studios? Executives make decisions based on a coin flip don't they?

[@squishybuspr]

*Reporting straight from the intersection of Incompetence Blvd and Overspend Ave.

[@VampireNoblesse]

to be fair, Redfall & F76 were pushed by Zenimax.., that said, Xbox is not much better :/

[@Necrofem]

and how companies like MS just manage to buyout every smaller company? don't those companies have owners and can they just refuse to be purchased?

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

No if they're publicly funded and the shareholders want to cash out.

[@masterbeaver]

It depends entirely on their ownership structure. If they are privately owned, then yes, they can just refuse. If they are publicly traded and the original owners/founders kept a controlling stake of 51%, they can just refuse.

[@Willow4526]

Personally this definitely feels like a Microsoft closes studios, not a Xbox does, bcos imo from what I've been seeing Phil do is set up Xboxs long term future nice & slowly, but now Microsoft has come in & cut out the legs from under him/Xbox all bcos they know nothing about gaming as a business & Industry, so much so i wouldn't be surprised if Phil is considered the gaming nerd looser in those board rooms. The industry will live on, i don't think gamings going anywhere, its just a matter of how tough well it be for devs & us customers going forward. Until a revolution in some area of life & the world happens nothings going to change, capitalism is still going to consume EVERYTHING we love.

[@jimcarrey2866]

Seriously, WTF "immersive sim" even means? Battlefield is an immersive sim, fucking Mario Kart is an immersive. What a stupid ass term

[@LonelyGamr]

Inexile will be next

[@Cookiemunster779]

Sorry but Arkane definitely didn’t do their best on Redfall. Why that is? Not clear Microsoft absolutely were trying to push the game even after its abysmal release eventually after getting thrashed non stop they finally dropped it. While I agree that Redfall was stupid from the get go even as a concept it’s clear it didn’t have the heart behind it from the devs

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

Why? It's because the studio makes immersive SIM games not live service shooters. It'd be like forcing the developers behind Forza to make an action RPG............oh wait.

[@YouTubeCensors]

​@@pixeljauntvr7774 Dumb comparison. Playground asked to do Fable reboot, also Reports were Arkane Austin lost 70% of Devs who weren't happy working on a live service Game.

[@MassKezEffect6]

So, Tango was shut down due to the prestigous and award winning success of Hi-Fi Rush? Is this how Microsoft rewards success? (by their own metrics.) God forbid Microsoft punishes failure. Oh, wait... 343 is still around running Halo. Ah, well.

[@user-dq5pm1nk2h]

No worries. It is a rational move. Some devs used to say that the problem is hardware. It is about their work. They have become lazy and they want more money for nearly the same level as in past 10 years. And it is not about Ray Tracing. RT is not a huge problem with FSR 3.1. Not even mentioning advanced Mesh Shading techniques and Unreal Engine 5.4 (opens more frames and improves NANITE). There are ways to make graphics superb even without RT but it is up to them. They should definitely start using AI to make games even 10 times faster. I have seen work of machine learning method based on GTA 5. They have made some photos of the city and machine learning (AI) has turned basic GTA 5 graphics into photorealistic. The tools are there and are waiting. Will devs start asking for them and using them? It is up to them if they even want to work on something unique or not. But this is they key element. To start using them properly, not lying to boss that Series X is too weak. This is insane. XSX is 4x more powerful than Xbox One X (that is what Jason Ronald's crew says). Can you imagine this? Graphics designer tells you that there is not enough memory to play game at 60fps. Come on! It is a shame that some games even look like Half-life 2 and there is no power. They must be controled from time to time. Inside job. And it is not about native 4K if not possible. We gamers need to see improvement. This is not last gen platform. Sorry for my English. I'm not an Englishman. Have a good one.

[@AngladaFrankFrankyvape]

While Hi-Fi rush did good for a smaller scope game both Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo were not that succesful, Ghostwire very well may have been a money sinkhole we don't know about. Not to excuse Microsoftr mind you, they are handling the whole situation very poorly and Gamepass subscribers won't grow if they get rid of the studios making content for it. Machine Games are making Indiana Jones tho and I don't see them going away unless this falls flat on its face. Ninja Theory tho? Yeah, really unsure about Hellblade 2 reception here sicne it could be a critical darling and still sell very poorly, wait and see.

[@paulypipes3082]

Gamepass gamepass gamepass, just cancel it and buy games physical. Support the devs. If you all sit here and cry about developers but then subscribe to gamepass then your supporting Microsoft. I wouldn't bother subscribing to suscription services that take away your rights as a consumer And we are just as guilty as supporting it. Why are you youtubers missing the point.... This is all because of Microsofts business models with gamepass. That's why HiFi Rush didn't make enough money for the people who made it because it went in wolves pockets.... Microsoft

[@Grubkiller35]

While i dont like ppl losing there jobs. I honestly dont care about any of the games these studios have ever made. All xbox is to me is bethesda and gears of war. Nothing else has ever interested me

[@Titan-sq6yl]

If you're gonna Shut one down it would be Besta They have not made a fun game.Since the newest skyrim there games are just boring

[@Titan-sq6yl]

Starfield is just a hunk sack of garbage.I love Todd, Howard. But he has let down so many people.Their games are just boring as tell.I'm sorry

[@Titan-sq6yl]

I've given 3 chances to fall out 4. And still the game is boring as hell to me. I've given 3 chances to Starfield. Boring. , the only game. That's actually fun.It's fall out new vegas which they didn't even make

[@frankallen3634]

I hated the first senua so I don't care about the new one. Ninja is done when this junk fails

[@byghostlight1]

Honestly, it is almost like XBox only cares about profit from Game Pass, without investing it back into making quality games. Say what you will about PS flaws at least they clearly invest in making quality games.

[@eatupsidedown]

Arkane is one of the most overrated studios… I ain’t sad.

[@ericduvalle5648]

Xbox management is almost as bad as the quality/production of this video.

[@rurikhan]

Ouch, the audio is good though.

[@wasabilai9405]

While both of them are still better than your manner

[@-Aniki-]

Why are you like this?

[@cj7011]

For multiple reasons, one he has no idea what the fuck he's talking about and spreading false information and 2, he's just jumping on the bandwagon for clicks.

[@MikeMac1988]

​@cj7011 very true. Skill Up done the best coverage I've seen of this whole issue so far.

[@greasypee4791]

Sonypony

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

Well, he certainly isn't an Xbot. Doubt they'll be any of you left in 6 months. You're all going extinct.

[@DVZ-one_three]

Xbox is done its over..theres no games no vision no nothing! 🥷🏽✌️