Recent Studio Closures Tied To 'Long Term' Health Of The Business, Claims Xbox President

Smells like typical Xbox BS.

That’s a lot of words to say nothing at all.

Side note: I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but the fact that we haven’t heard from Phil so far has me starting to wonder….

Corporate-speak nonsense. Shareholder payouts, nothing more. Short-term satisfaction based on stock value perception, which will necessitate further firings to keep up the facade, and sacrifice long-term health. But, just like the mortgage meltdown that taxpayers paid for, a few make gobs of money and piss on the workers who got them there. It’s how business is done now.

Wow. Just holy fecking wow. They sent Sarah Bond of all people to take the blame on this? This isn't even her department. This is Booty under Phil under Satya. Sarah doesn't have anything to do with Studios. She's "ecosystem". Thats console hardware, controllers, features, cloud (because they merged cloud into her department and got rid of choudry last week), Windows launchers, mobile apps, dev tools, OSs, game pass, backend networking features etc. She's not involved in studios. And they sent her as the belated beating post? Wow. The train not only went off the tracks but it's now a submarine.

What she said doesn't matter. That she's the one they sent out to say it says more than anything she said.

So...Arkane and Tango, their one hit wonder, were such a drain in resources it jeopardized the long term health of the entire ABK Bethesda Halo behemoth? And closing them as spared so much resources it's spared the survival of the rest of the organization?

And what transition exactly are we taking about?

I'd ask her to explain but she doesn't have any more clue than we do. She doesn't even work in that department.

@Utena-mobile the Phil Spencer era of Xbox is over I'm afraid. The management restructure after ABK takeover was completed & the current layoffs, studio closures. It all hints of something new. Rumour is it's gonna be called Microsoft Gaming which if true tells wlyou who is running the show.

@NEStalgia maybe there is another twist coming to all this. Will Phil Spencer survive this transition to this rumoured Microsoft Gaming Division that's being talked about.

@cragis0001 Isn't Phil's official title already "CEO, Microsoft Gaming"?

Or rather was. Something tells me he's not going too stick around anymore. It's clear they completely sidelined him and took over.

They are probably going to combine a few of those teams into existing studios. They will probably try and cut down the time it takes to make a game. Taking 6 years or more to make a game doesn't seem sustainable for the long term health of the gaming industry.

@NEStalgia yeah I think so. They definitely sidelined him. The shift was clear as day. Maybe Phil is sticking around till the restructure is complete as we have heard he will be at the summer games fest. But I agree I don't see him sticking around or been the mouth piece of the brand going forward once it's complete.

"even when the industry isn't growing and when you're going through a time of transition."

So my question is transition into what?

What I’m about to say probably isn’t related to main article at all… But as the days go by, I’m starting to get why MS closed the studio that they did from a business perspective.

Alpha Dog Games was offering literally nothing of value… Their mobile games aren’t need when you now own king.

Roundhouse Studios was struggling before they were even bought out by Zenimax when they was still known as Human Head (original creators of prey). While the studio was closed… The team was moved to work on Elder Scrolls Online

MS only closed a satellite office with Arkane Austin. But that means they can focus all resources on the main office, Lyon.

While Tango made great games… It located in Japan. Xbox is not growing in Japan. Meaning anything located in the country is not going to get the proper support it needs. I’m sure Xbox Japan offices is pretty much empty with only a single person hired to just clean the halls and offices for when Phil can find time to fly over.

That bring up how often is Phil and other Xbox management able to visit Japan? Probably not often cause they also have families that they want to spend time with. You can basically visit any of the America offices in an afternoon, and be back in WA before dinner.

That means Tango is basically operating independently, without the proper leadership and supervision from head office 85% of the year.

Had tango probably been an American studio… They could have downsized or sold off/partnered with.

It better to spend that Japan budget on get Square Enix or supporting Kojima.

Hi Everyone.

I didn't think she sounded too convincing in this interview. When asked about the studio closures I thought she avoided the qustion rather than answered.

However could anyone please explain why the studios affected had to close rather than sold? Surely Tango Gameworks would of had interested parties.

This is subliminal waffle reassuring investors whilst making sure a great job is being done because the overlord boss is listening/watching from afar.

@EvenStephen7 All it proves is that Spencer is not an idiot and he knows when to lay low and keep his mouth shut. He isn't going anywhere, he's just being sensibly quiet so as not to add any fuel to the flames.

@Nic-Noc20th-C from what I have seen on the internet from people much smarter than me:

They likely closed rather than sold so they could keep the rights to IPs in case they ever did want to do a sequel/reboot/remake to any of the games. Also Tango had only just released a game, had nothing in the pipeline and Hi fi Rush had probably sold as much as it was going to so the overall value of Tango probably wasn’t all that great for a sale at the moment. Whoever buys them would have to front the cost of the next game while not seeing massive amounts of residual sales from already released games.

@AverageGamer I completely agree with you. I wrote something about it on one of the other threads, but also the fact that Mikami, founder of Tango, was not involved in The Evil Within 2 (2017) and had left the studio along with the producers of the game that everyone is taking about this week (Hi-Fi Rush), plus Ghostwire Tokyo, is another reason for Microsoft to not "remake" Tango. Tango was looking for additional staff and so was Arkane Austin.

The problem is that Microsoft, unlike Sony and Nintendo, always reply to external questions. That's risky. Not only that but, when they do, they don't communicate the specific reasons but their generic goals and their long-term strategy. People won't understand that, because the questions are specific and the reasons are not really disclosed. Better to lay low and keep your mouth shut like Sony and Nintendo.

@Ooccoo_Jr It’s not the job of a CEO to “lay low and keep your mouth shut” during turbulent times for the organization. Especially when you’re the face of the brand both internally and externally.

She is the worst. You can tell she doesn't care about Tango being closed and she looks annoyed she even has to talk about it

@Nic-Noc20th-C If you sell a studio, you are also selling the IPs. Because the founder and the main producers had left, the sale wouldn't be as easy as people think or maybe Microsoft just wanted to keep the IPs for other studios to work on them. The geniuses behind The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush had left Tango.

I simply don't believe anything that any of them say.

And where the hell is Phil?!

@EvenStephen7 I'm not defending the guy, just explaining the actions. I for one have rallied against this idea of "Nice Guy Uncle Phil" as I can't see what he has possibly done to be praised so much. Just because he owns a Battletoads shirt it doesn't make him the gamer's friend. He's just another suit looking out for his shareholders and paymasters and not doing particularly well at it.

@Ooccoo_Jr oh totally. Sorry, I was just voicing my frustration with this tactic too. Good CEOs lead, not go radio silent while the customer base and employees speculate wildly (something we’ve seen happen with Xbox a few times over the last year).

Like you I’ve also been warning against the “Uncle Phil” pedestal as well. Couldn’t agree more with everything you said — at the end of the day he’s a corporate executive for a multi-billion dollar organization. He’s not “like us” or a friend; he’s there to sell us a product and keep his company profitable— by any means necessary. It’s interesting to see so many people stop and realize he’s an exec and maybe not everyone’s best buddy afterall.

It would have been better to let them go independent or see if there was another publisher who wanted to buy them rather just shut them down and let the games they made just sit there to die forever.

@EvenStephen7 I've always been a fanboy, first Sega and then Nintendo, but always in regards to the games and the consoles. I've never understood the weird loyalties people have to these megacorporations like the people I have argued with down here who were celebrating the ABK purchase and even the resulting redundancies, just because they no longer had to purchase CoD separately to their Game Pass sub.

But with that being said I am becoming increasingly proud of my Nintendo loyalties as they seem to be the only ones left not acting like supervillains.

@Ooccoo_Jr "Nintendo as they seem to be the only ones left not acting like supervillains."

Nintendo outsource the vast majority of the development. They only keep a skeleton development crew. It's another way of hiring and firing. It's not a small outsource but the size of Ubisoft.

I don't know if it's good or bad that Microsoft purchased Zenimax and ABK. I respect both perspectives, but both groups were actively looking to be purchased and I wonder what would have happened if someone else acquired them, inevitably.

@armondo36 Phil is busy rebuilding his settlement in F76

Just because a Studio closed doesn't mean all the talent is on their rears. They can simply be shuffled into other companies Microsoft still owns. There is no reason to have to pay for the lights to stay on at 40+ companies if you can get the same job done at 20+ companies.

Arkane deserved to be closed, I would keep closing all their buildings

@Banjo-

Thanks that explains it thanks

So what you are saying that it's not a total waste of money for Microsoft as they gain IP and future revenue from current and future re-releases plus sequels if they desire.
It's the original creators that lose out.

@Ooccoo_Jr Nintendo has consistently been my refuge from the very worst practices in this industry. They're also the last ones to adopt terrible industry trends. Not perfect, by any means, but this generation has demonstrated why, for me, they're the last worthwhile bastion of console gaming.

Otherwise, I stick with PC and Valve, which is leagues ahead of Microsoft and Sony in terms of consumer-friendliness and features.

@Nic-Noc20th-C I think that they chose Arkane Austin because it's a satellite team that has not been successful.

About Tango, Microsoft are keeping the IPs and the released games, but they are not losing the key talent. Tango was founded by Mikami, one of the most important persons in the industry. He is the co-creator of Resident Evil and the director of Resident Evil 2002 that still is, in my opinion, the best entry. When he left Capcom, he founded Tango and created The Evil Within, but he was not involved in The Evil Within 2 and later left the company. The main producers of Tango (Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire Tokyo) also left the company. Tango was looking for new staff. At that point, I don't know who would have purchased Tango. Microsoft was like, Tango is not Tango anymore and they are in Japan, let's shut it down and keep the IPs, re-sell the games and maybe work on sequels with or without the original creators, that are not part of Tango anymore.

She used a lot of words but actually said noting but drivel. The trouble with Xbox now is that no one is going to believe a word that comes out of the mouths of Spencer , Bond and Booty ever again.
All 3 may as well be given the boot - they command crazy salaries so get rid of those - and just get on with calling it Microsoft gaming.

All they are doing now is putting off the inevitable. And each day that goes by , the damage gets worse.

Phil Spencer isn’t a leader. Leaders don’t hunker down in bunkers when this stuff is going on. They come out and talk to the rightly concerned fans .

He is clearly not in any form of control and tbh has always been a man full of bluster and nonsense. Reminds me of Boris Johnson. Full of wind and no substance .

@BrilliantBill I think old plan was Phil completes his console vision and prepares Sarah to replace him when he retires.

I think new plan is Phil is looking for an exit (or will be thrown into one depending on how defiant he is) and someone from Activision is moved into his seat. Sarah stays where she is or also looks for an exit. I doubt Satya wants the Xbox "old guard" making any more deicisions. Or resistance.

@EvenStephen7 exactly it’s such a wishy-washy answer with zero substance or actual explanation.

Very poor politician answer.

@BaldBelper78 I wonder if booty will be given the boot!

(Sorry I’ll see myself out 🤣)

@datamonkey ahaha! 🤣

Can't wait for in a few years GP becomes unsustainable when AAAs take too long, Third Parties ask for more to be a part of it, & with the closing of smaller studios, a lack of consistent original GP games to fill the gaps. And no one at Microsoft will take responsibility.

As others have already mentioned, these decisions had nothing to do with Sarah Bond. She actually looked gutted when trying to give an answer about Tango specifically.

Matt Booty is the person responsible for Xbox studios and he's the one who has questions to answer.

Why were Tango selected when Hi-Fi Rush is a 2023 GOTY contender for a lot of people? 3 million active players at one point and critically acclaimed.

Did Hi-Fi Rush not generate enough actual sales after that? Then don't put it on Game Pass.

Why didn't Microsoft wait to see how well the sales would be a few months after launch on PS5?

Why is Matt Booty genuinely stating that Xbox need more games like Hi-Fi Rush (in his description) immediately after shutting the studio that made that ****ING game????

I'm at an absolute loss but my anger is directed where it should be. Matt Booty.

@BrilliantBill

TV focused consoles are already here. More time is spent on watching tv through consoles now than is spent playing games. The mistake MS made with the Xbox One was focusing on it so heavily.

And digital now makes up roughly 90% of all game sales. Last Black Friday, digital accounted for roughly 93% of all sales. And the Series S is outselling the Series X by a large margin.

MS has had its hits and misses in regards to the future of this market. Tv through a console and digital games were certainly not 2 misses. If anything, they were just a generation ahead of their time.

My biggest issue is Phil not saying a word. This is twice now in the last couple months that Xbox’s PR was pure dogsh*t. And I mean runny, smelly, and left on the sidewalk to bake dogsh*t.

I have always had a lot of respect for Phil. He was in a very tough position when he took over for Mattrick and he did a good job saving Xbox at that point. He has done an exceptional job making Xbox the best BC console on the market. The number of first party studios Xbox owns has grown dramatically under his tenure. And I can’t prove it, but I suspect these decisions are not being made by him and likely bother him as much as many of us, BUT his lack of transparency and the fact he basically seems to hide when what we really need is him coming out and explaining what’s up is a HUGE check in the negative column for me lately. It might be time for Phil to step aside and let someone new take the reins.

All that said, I will still support Xbox. These layoffs are an industry wide problem atm and not just an Xbox problem. I have a massive digital library on Xbox that I am not about to let go, and I am still a HUGE fan of Game Pass and couldn’t imagine going back to gaming without it. Not to mention, Xbox now owns a significant number of IP’s that I love, many of which are some of my favorite of all time. So I’ll do what I have always done with Xbox, play all 3rd party on it and hope that things finally turn around for Xbox first party. I’m not going anywhere, at least not yet.

I just sold my Playstation 5 to get an Xbox Series X few months back, a move I deeply regret, at this point I hate Microsoft and their selfish policies in general, they don't think of the fan base at all, very selfish people. I think I will donate the console with all digital and physical games to the orphanage.

I have always been an Xbox fan from the very Original Xbox, even when MS messed up the Xbox One generation with their selfish policies at the beginning I still stick around, now giving first parties games out, making having the Xbox console useless, I'm buying a Playstation 5 as soon as I go for time off, keep porting your games to the Playstation, please 🙏 don't forget to port in Forza Horizon 5.

Xbox is dead console wise like the dream cast

Phil messed up the xbox big time

@RIghteousNixon same bro I have massive library too, so much from xbox 360 to present day, I just bought the new robo cop Rogue City. At this point I'm not just happy with the console, ms making useless to have

They buy studios only to shut dem down, even the studio that gave them a hit recently. 😤 😡🤬💔

@CharlieXLE I don't understand it either, what should you do as studio gamers liked the game, the game itself won awards and did well and yet Microsoft gaming break the neck of this studio.

@Banjo- You know a company is more than just the producer, right? There's tons of talented people that collaborate to make a game. You're making tons of assumptions to rationalize why the studio was shut down.

By your logic, Rare should've been closed years ago, since a lot of the old staff from the golden era (SNES, N64) left.

@ZuneTattooGuy People deserve to lose their jobs? Yikes.

@Lanmanna
Yes if they can't do their jobs we'll

People who are trying to defend those decisions are making guesses, maybe educated ones, but guesses nevertheless.

This decision was SO UNPOPULAR and generally perceived as SO EVIL (including by myself) that Microsoft NEEDS to be absolutely crystal clear on its reasons, on this one.

The general opinion absolutely cannot be satisfied by their usual "Trust me, bro, it's all for the greater good".

Not after Hi-Fi Rush, the ONLY game that saved their year in the general opinion.

@Lanmanna Welcome to the comments section where people are entitled to respectfully make comments about the topic. You are focusing only on a few words and changing what I mean on your mind. I didn't say that there are just three people working at Tango and I didn't say that it's a good decision.

There are reasons for things to happen and this kind of things happen in all companies, not just Microsoft. Even worse things happen, like crunch or hiring and firing teams just for a game or DLC. That doesn't mean that I'm happy about it. I am not.

Mikami is one of my favourite persons in the industry and I like Tango's output, but it's the industry, not me doing this. There is nothing I can do about it. Being superficial, emotional and politically correct is the easiest thing to do, but I need to go a bit deeper than that. I need to read the interviews and the history of the studio. That doesn't make me a worse person.

@CharlieXLE You can sell your Xbox and buy a PS5... @Bobobiwan You can buy Hi-Fi Rush on PS5 instead of Xbox... The truth is that Sony is the same. They also shut studios down, plus some of their studios are known for crunch. Crunch is worse because your working conditions are bad and you also get fired when development is not as busy.

It's so sad.
I bought myself a physical copy of Prey on XBox One to show some respect to Arkane Studios.

I seem to have chosen an interesting time to join the Xbox / M$ ecosystem. It's all well and good these people banging on about "i know this hurts / we don't really want to do this / blah blah blah." This won't help anyone who has been left without a job, the massive mental health load of it, not including the practicalities like bills to pay. Nah but they're fine. Trillion dollar company. I find it all rather indefensible personally......

@Nintendo4Sonic
And they took that goodwill from Prey and made Redfall....so....

@XBOX045 I love the Xbox Hardware so much, even planning to get their handheld console if truly they will release one, but with all this I'm beginning to lose faith in them.

@Steel76 @XBOX045 I love the Xbox Hardware so much, even planning to get their handheld console if truly they will release one, but with all this I'm beginning to lose faith in them. Yea they plan to become the next Sega from the look of things, so sad

@Banjo- Yeah, I know... Sony is not a hero neither. For example, I just can't stand the way they treat their PSVR2 users... People who bought an accessory that cost more than the console itself DESERVE at least some kind of communication, a sort of roadmap, this kind of thing.

I know PSVR2 is doomed, and Sony is not going to spend a single cent on communicating about an accessory that is already on its grave, but maybe if it is there, it's BECAUSE they never told anyone anything about that (how many people know that the PS5 exists ? A LOT. How many people know about the PSVR2 ? Nobody. Just a few geeks. And that is just crazy.)

I think at this moment, Nintendo may be the healthier company of them all.

I just cannot wait about that Switch 2 presentation.

@Bobobiwan I prefer Xbox as a platform because of the hardware, services, controller, backwards compatibility and digital rights, but I know the three of them are typically capitalist.

Sony also shut studios down and kill devices and they do it quietly. No communication whatsoever. Nintendo killed Wii U and didn't offer any kind of cross-buy on Switch even after merging the NNID and Nintendo accounts and we are talking about two consoles released in the same generation, on top of the 3DS. Nintendo can be so annoying, but I'm also a Nintendo gamer and I'm curious about Switch 2. I don't think that I will get it at launch, but I want to know exactly what it is. I tried Sony (PS4), but I'm simply not a fan of their exclusives and platform.

Side note: I always appreciate and enjoy your comments 😊.

@Banjo- Me, too, buddy !
(For real)
(Now stop, you're gonna make me cry xD)

@Bobobiwan 😊🤗😚

@ZuneTattooGuy and what are you trying to say with that sentence? It sounds like Arkane deserved it.