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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Microsoft has closed down multiple Bethesda studios, including: Tango, Arkane Austin, etc

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How at risk is a studio like Ninja Theory going forward after this? Cause Hellblade 2 isn't exactly gonna be a huge seller. Morale at these studios is gonna reach an all time low now which is just gonna exacerbate any development issues.

Xbox Series had a significantly better start than the Xbox One image wise but for the past couple years that advantage has been going away and after this the image of the brand has to be even lower than it was at the mid point of last gen which is quite a shame after there was a decent amount of optimism for it back in 2020-2021.

Last edited by Norion - on 07 May 2024

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Damn, that sucks so much :(



Norion said:

How at risk is a studio like Ninja Theory going forward after this? Cause Hellblade 2 isn't exactly gonna be a huge seller. Morale at these studios is gonna reach an all time low now which is just gonna exacerbate any development issues.

Xbox Series had a significantly better start than the Xbox One image wise but for the past couple years that advantage has been going away and after this the image of the brand has to be even lower than it was at the mid point of last gen which is quite a shame after there was a decent amount of optimism for it back in 2020-2021.

Well Taneem the co-founder of NT left. Similar beginnings to Tango. So NT could likely be next.



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

Leynos said:
Norion said:

How at risk is a studio like Ninja Theory going forward after this? Cause Hellblade 2 isn't exactly gonna be a huge seller. Morale at these studios is gonna reach an all time low now which is just gonna exacerbate any development issues.

Xbox Series had a significantly better start than the Xbox One image wise but for the past couple years that advantage has been going away and after this the image of the brand has to be even lower than it was at the mid point of last gen which is quite a shame after there was a decent amount of optimism for it back in 2020-2021.

Well Taneem the co-founder of NT left. Similar beginnings to Tango. So NT could likely be next.

They better not close another studio anytime soon. Ideally there will be a big gap until the next one.



Zippy6 said:

A break out hit in all key measurements and expectations.Couldn't be happier with them.Shut down 1 year later. Uh huh.

....and it was at a time when they badly needed a hit, or something to make them look good.

This is how they are repayed for their hardwork, that was actually a critical hit.



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I am only surprised by the fact that people are surprised.

As a corporate entity, Microsoft has no conscience. Every single performance review is equivalent to the sword of Damocles hovering in the sky. Understand, too, that a moderate success is often equivalent to failure when the context is budget share and return expectations. That is the reality of belonging to a multi-trillion dollar company.

"Good" can easily be "not good enough."

That aside, the cycle of corporate cannibalization is well established in the gaming world at this point and will continue to be the norm. Smaller companies will continue to attract the attention of larger companies, who will carve them up like a Sunday turkey while they pick out the juicy bits and fling the rest into the disposal. Promising IP will continue to be mismanaged or pushed aside and forgotten as the people who made them special to begin with leave to form new companies with new IP and begin the cycle once more.

But, hey, the next time is going to be different, right?



trunkswd said:
Chrkeller said:

Arkane, Deathloop? Flicking loved that game.

Deathloop was developed Arkane Lyon and not Arkane Austin. Arkane Austin developed Prey and Redfall.

Which is why I can easily understand reason to cut Arkane Austin.



pokoko said:

I am only surprised by the fact that people are surprised.

As a corporate entity, Microsoft has no conscience. Every single performance review is equivalent to the sword of Damocles hovering in the sky. Understand, too, that a moderate success is often equivalent to failure when the context is budget share and return expectations. That is the reality of belonging to a multi-trillion dollar company.

"Good" can easily be "not good enough."

That aside, the cycle of corporate cannibalization is well established in the gaming world at this point and will continue to be the norm. Smaller companies will continue to attract the attention of larger companies, who will carve them up like a Sunday turkey while they pick out the juicy bits and fling the rest into the disposal. Promising IP will continue to be mismanaged or pushed aside and forgotten as the people who made them special to begin with leave to form new companies with new IP and begin the cycle once more.

But, hey, the next time is going to be different, right?

Sony has come out and said, they are fine with only 3 out of 10 games, being big success stories, that then partually pays for the others.
I have a hard time imagineing that Tango, wasn't atleast profitable for them.

So closeing them down because profit margins are slim, while they make good games (critical reviews, player reviews), that MS needed at the time.
It feels like such a blow.



EpicRandy said:
Kyuu said:

Once MS bought ABK, the likelihood of their smaller IP's and studios disappearing and shutting down got a lot higher. It's like when Sony started making multiple 20 million sellers and sort of stopped giving a shit about sub 10 million sellers, never mind sub 5 million sellers.

The context is cut-throat. Looking at the leaks of financial assessment with Spider man 2 last year you can see why that is. The title was anticipated only to start generating profits after the 10m marks. 

This is due to 2 main reasons:

1) The market has barely expanded in the last 15 years.

2) The budget of making video game more than doubled in the same time fame.

This directly cut into ROI and especially since profits from those sales are also used to support the subsidised model of console Hardware. The breathing room have grown extremely thin and created a cut-throat environment.

Covid made everyone think the above number 1 issue would be solve by driving growth in the industry and this thought have driven many investment in 2020 to early 2023. But it did not last, not only resulting in entity scrambling to secure there previous investment but also forcing them to acknowledge the current reality of the market.

The industry is adjusting itself to this reality and it's not pretty think to look at.

Software sales notably expanded when PC is taken into account which both MS and Sony now support. AA and AAA games cost more now to develop, but prices have also increased especially in Europe, and Sony games are retaining their prices much better than a few years back without selling less. Can you refer me to where it was shown that SM2 needs to sell 10 million to break even? Last I heard, the game cost $300 million (does the figure not include marketing?). Should generate profit at 5 million give or take.

But more importantly, why do all games have to be some highend AAA anyway? Low-mid budget AAA don't cost nearly as much as SM2, and AA cost even less. Helldivers 2 is considered AA and it "only" cost $50 million to make. Nintendo is killing it with medium budget games. And a crap load of indies, A, and AA games are more successful than anything AAA from Microsoft. Microsoft's own Sea of Thieves (not to mention Minecraft lol) is probably a lot more successful than the bigger Halo Infinite.

Higher development costs are more than cancelled out by games simply selling a lot more and averaging at higher prices in many cases. Availability on PC also greatly helps.



Surprised the usual "pro Microsoft buy everything " dont post here. I dont fucking know why they boight all this shit to chew and take a dump