Xbox is shutting down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and more under Bethesda, according to IGN. Alpha Dog Studios, which is behind last year’s mobile Mighty Dome, is also being shut down, according to the report. The Roundhouse games are also affected, but will be absorbed by The Elder Scrolls Online team at ZeniMax Online Studios.
Tango confirmed the news online with a thank you to his fans:
Arcane Austin has followed suit, confirming the news online as well with word that players who purchased Redfall’s Hero Pass “will be eligible to receive the upgrade price.” Here’s the studio’s statement:
The closure comes after Tango delivered the highly-acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush last year, months before Arcane Austin released Red Fall, which unfortunately failed to live up to expectations, with critics and fans alike pandering. He was disappointed with the first-person vampire shooter. The studio behind the Dishonored series.
IGN The shutdowns were revealed in emails sent to staff by Xbox Game Studios head Matt Botti, where the executive cited reprioritization as the reason for the shutdown. Here is the full email:
“Today, I’m sharing the changes we’re making across our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes focus on prioritizing high-impact titles and investing more in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds Based on the work you have done for decades.
Investing in doubling these franchises and building new ones requires us to identify opportunities in the business that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of topics and resources means that some teams will join others and some of our colleagues will leave us.
Here are the changes that are being implemented:
Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some team members joining other studios to work on Bethesda projects. Arkane Austin has a history of creating impactful and innovative games and it’s a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we finish all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide the best offers to players who purchase Hero DLC.
Alpha Dog Studio – This studio will also be closed. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing new players to Doom. Mighty Doom will be shutting down on August 7th and we will be shutting down the ability for players to make any in-game purchases.
Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also be closed. We are grateful for their support for Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today.
Roundhouse Games – The Roundhouse Games team will join ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in the launch of many of our recent games and bringing them to ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to develop the world that millions of Players call home.
Along with this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number of roles will also be eliminated from select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams.
Those whose roles will be affected will be notified today, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion. We will extend our full support to those affected by today’s announcements and their transition, including severance benefits as mandated by local laws.
These changes are not a reflection of the creativity and expertise of the talented people on these teams or the risks they take to try new things. I recognize that these changes are also disruptive for ZeniMax and the various Bethesda support teams that bring our games to market. We are making these tough decisions to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and create the ability to focus on our priority games.
Bethesda is one of the pillars of Xbox with a strong portfolio of great games and thriving communities. As we look to the future, there’s an impressive lineup of games on the horizon. In 2024 alone we have Starfield Shattered Space, Fallout 76 Skyline Valley, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and The Elder Scrolls Online’s Golden Road. As we align our plans and resources to best position ourselves for success in this complex and changing industry, our teams at Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios And the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will do well. is positioned to create new IP, explore new game concepts and expand our existing franchises.”
Sports Informer Xbox and Bethesda have been contacted for comment and will update this story if it learns more.
Arkane Austin is one half of Bethesda-owned Arkane Studios, the other half being Arkane Lyon. The two studios often work together on Arkane games, but Arkane Austin took charge on titles like Redfall and 2017’s Prey while Arkane Lyon is behind 2021’s Deathloop and the in-development Marvel’s Blade game.
Tango released Hi-Fi Rush as a surprise “out today” game during the Xbox Developer Direct in January of last year, and the game recently arrived on PlayStation 5. Before Hi-Fi Rush, Tango released Ghostwire: Tokyo, and two games outside of it, perhaps best known for The Evil Within series.
These studio closings join a string of other disappointing closings and layoffs in 2024, which now exceed 10,000 in just the first five months of this year.
Last week, Take Two Interactive discontinued the Rollerdrome Studio Roll7 and Kerbel Space Program 2 Studio Intercept games with major layoffs at its indie publisher Private Division label. This same week, we learned that Deliver Us Mars developer Keoken Interactive has laid off nearly its entire staff.
Elsewhere in the year, EA laid off approximately 670 employees across departments, leading to the cancellation of Respawn’s Star Wars FPS game. PlayStation laid off 900 employees at Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guirrilla, and more, closing the London studio in the process. A day earlier, Until Dawn developer Super Massive Games announced that it had laid off 90 employees.
In late January, we learned that Embracer Group had canceled a new Deus Ex game for development at Eidos-Montréal and laid off 97 employees in the process. Also in January, Destroy All Humans remake developer Black Forest Games reportedly laid off 50 employees and Microsoft announced that it was also laying off 1,900 employees across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams. Outriders studio People Can Fly laid off more than 30 employees in January, and League of Legends company Riot Games laid off 530 employees.
Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games laid off 10 percent of its staff, Unity will lay off 1,800 people by the end of March, and Twitch will lay off 500 employees.
We also learned that Discord has laid off 170 employees, with layoffs at PTW, a support studio that works with companies like Blizzard and Capcom, and SteamWorld Build company, Thunderful Group, laying off about 100 people. left the Dead by Daylight developer Slook Interactive also reportedly laid off 45 people.
[Source: IGN]
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