Microsoft controversially closed a bunch of Xbox developers earlier this year, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin - a move that the studio's founder says was "stupid" and "not a good decision".
Speaking in a new interview with PCGamer, WolfEye Studios' Raphael Colantonio — who founded Arkane — made some fairly outspoken comments about how Xbox treated the Bethesda team. Colantonio talked about the talent lost by Microsoft, and how letting them go "to me, was stupid".
"I think if you look a little bit, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group of people that have made some cool things and that could pull it off again,
Those people together can really make magic. It's not like, 'Doesn't matter, we'll just rehire.' No, try it. That's what big groups do all the time. They try to just hire massively and overpay people to create those magic groups. It doesn't work like this. So to me, that was stupid. But what do I know?"
Some of that special talent included longtime game makers Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare, who helped create the likes of Dishonored and Prey over at Arkane. The studio's Lyon branch is still open mind you, currently working on Marvel's Blade after delivering Deathloop at the start of this generation.
It still stings that Xbox closed down these studios we must admit — which also included Hi-Fi RUSH developer Tango Gameworks — but at least that studio and its IP was subsequently picked up by PUBG publisher Krafton. Here's hoping we hear less of this sort of news from Xbox in future.
Agree with these comments? Keep it civil and discuss 'em down below.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 30
They try to just hire massively and overpay people to create those magic groups. It doesn't work like this. So to me, that was stupid. But what do I know?
Brutal and to the point, most sensible thinking people will no doubt agree with Colantonio's assessment. Well done for saying out loud what the majority of us thought 👏. Look forward to his new game.
Yeah I hate this decision. Redfall was a flop sure but I'm also sure the studio would've delivered on projects in the future. Sadly Redfall not making all the money in the world led to this decision.
In other breaking news, mathematician claims: “Two plus two equals four.”
raphael gave up on arkane austin first. over bethesda changing the name of prey. nobdoy should take him seriously. at all. hes very immature and shortsighted. microsoft actually only gave up on it after they kept putting out poorly made products. microsoft made a logical choice and raphael made a poorly made emotional choice.
It's easy to say it is a stupid decision when it was someone else paying for the failing studio to operate.
@Simu001 Considering Hi-Fi Rush was a massive success and Tango Gameworks was still shut down, even if Redfall succeed it wasn't a guarantee Arkane Austin wouldn't have been canned. That's how volatile the industry is right now.
Yep pc gamer...
No1 haters
@shoeses Very good point. Now it feels even more random. Atleast Tango is back if I untrstand the Situation correctly. Hi-Fi Rush wasn't for me but it's still a great game
You just need to look at Prey to see that Microsoft didn't know what they had when it came to Arkane Austin. The game has gained a bit of a cult following and is frequently cited as one of the top games to play for new Game Pass subscribers. If Microsoft had any sense they would have asked Arkane Austin to develop a 2D, metroidvania remake of the original game (ideally using pixel art, but honestly they could have re-used assets from the original game and people would have still loved it) and then a sequel. They had the makings of something beautiful but Microsoft missed the forest for the trees.
I tried playing it shortly after release and it was a dumpster fire, embarrassing product.
Bought it 1 week ago and it's gotten to a pretty stable state after the final patches, kind of fun.
Not sure there was a great answer to the Studios going forward
Seems like must failed LiveService studios get razed if they fail. Pretty harsh reality
@Simplejohn PCGamer loves to whine from soapboxes, but they did call RedFall out during previews
🤷♂️
Yeah, that was kind of an unforgivable decision by Xbox. And for a while, I got tricked into liking them, because Phil Spencer is a likable guy. But this and the Tango shutdown really makes ya realize that yeah, Microsoft is an evil trillion dollar corporation, aren't they.
It is what it is - They bought Arkane Austin in a Bundle deal and we don't really know how bad a shape that Studio was in - and only as good as your last game. 'Talent' also moved on and Arkane Austin reportedly lost 'Talent' due to 'Redfall' - It was a 'Different' game to what Zenimax demanded - and what was 'left', even after a 'year' and more 'delays', delivered that and thought it was 'good enough'...
I've seen many of the people who worked on Dishonored or Prey now working at different studios and projects, so for all I know, the Talent (or most of it) left - same with Tango and they lost they 'creative' direction - which is the 'horror' and now its 'Hifi Rush' - which won't make money - and that's according to its new 'owners'
If you can't invest billions in rebuilding those Studios or know they won't make money for you, but 'inherited' them when buying Zenimax, or want to invest what money they can into getting the games they have in development actually over the finishing line and making money back from them
@BigRedPaper I've still not so much as given new Prey a sideways glance. Prey is the 2006 game, Prey is Tommy. Not whatever the corporate suits wants it to be.
Zenimax forced them make a game they didn't want to make. You knew that, and you still closed them down when it didn't perform well. Only thing worse is closing tango when they made exactly what they wanted to critical acclaim and you still close. I'd imagine if they didn't acquire activ/blizzard they would still be around.
Well why didn’t Phil or booty check the game before release ? It’s the boss fault for letting it green light
Founder of studio he walked away from shocked studio got closed. "Film at 11...."
This seems to have been more of a Bethesda problem than an Xbox problem. There is no way that the results of last year, when Starfield and Redfall failed, didn't have an impact.
@Elbow Your loss for being petty about something as trivial as a name. Prey 2017 is, imho, one of the best games ever made, and you're not going to play it simply because the title of the game is the same title of a different game... okay. A great game is a great game - doesn't matter what the name of it is.
I completely agree that it was a terrible decision. I really don't like the whole "have a hit or you're dead" ethos that some studios have to live by. Especially when they're owned by an enormous platform holder.
I actually really like Redfall and would have loved to have seen what it could have been.
I don't think it was as terrible as people say. My understanding is a lot of the studio core left during Redfall development because they were not aligned with the kind of game Redfall was.
So, if a lot of the core left and we all know how well Redfall did, what was left to build tradition Arkane Austin games?
@everynowandben it's moreso Bethesda screwing over other devs. It's all a pretty sore point. I loved Prey, and was so excited for Prey 2, only for Bethesda to ruin things. And then they slap the name of the IP on something completely unrelated without a care in the world.
I know, or at least am fairly certain, Arkane wasn't guilty of this incident and it was Bethesda higher ups. I plan to play it someday, I just haven't got over the annoyance of the whole situation to finally put money down on it.
I personally thought the Dishonoured series was overrated. I've repeatedly tried to play though the games and I get both bored and frustrated. And the problem with Redfall was the game was barely playable and the developers didn't seem to care and just thought someone else would fix it. Redfall was likely the final nail in the coffin, in my opinion. One of the developers actually said "I can't believe they shipped it out was it was", implying that they expected someone else to fix and polish the game.
@Elbow I don't do horror, and Prey2 is definitely not for me, but yeah, that was the most bizarre situation that they just slapped the name Prey2 on a game that had absolutely no relation to Prey, thus both disappointing anyone that bought to because they were familiar with the IP, and discarding a potentially valuable IP for absolutely no benefit at all.
Though a real Prey 2 just wouldn't work without Art Bell either 😂 😢
Can’t base a future paycheck on long past success. Their last active project flopped. That’s lost revenue. Hard to convince anyone that salaries should be paid when they don’t generate revenue.
@Bigmanfan that’s easy for you to say when it’s not you funding a mediocre studio. Raphael gave up on arkane Austin back in 2017 dude, so it’s rich hearing him call Microsoft stupid. Nobody made him sell arkane in 2010, nobody made him leave over changing the name. Raphael is a child
@Elbow there are two prey games. It is what it is. Bethesda paid money for that and needed arkane to bail them out with a good game. It’s a shame that Rafael handled it in such a childish way back then and is now handling it even worse seven years later. He hasn’t matured one bit.
Btw Tommy was dope
I didn’t want Arkane Austin to close, Xbox leadership likely didn’t want to have to close them either, but it was a wider business decision, the books didn’t balance for Zenimax / Bethesda and they had to cut costs / staff.
The question you need to ask is if it wasn’t going to be Arkane Austin who else would you cut instead? Id? Machine Games? Bethesda? THESE are the hard decisions you have to make sometimes as business leadership. Nobody enjoys it and there are no easy answers.
I suspect ONE of the reasons it was Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks was because they had just released their games, Microsoft had seen a return on their projects. Whereas if you closed a studio that was 4 years into an unreleased project that would be $100+ million down the drain with no return. Not sensible in a cost cutting exercise.
It’s all unfortunate, but these are business decisions made to balance the books, and not about creativity. Hard choices.
@Elbow I agree using the name Prey on a completely unrelated game was a ***** corporate decision by the publisher. The devs didn’t want it and it backfired. But to not play the game because of it is cutting off your nose to spite your face. It’s doing the game and devs a disservice.
If you have any interest in Immersive Sims (Deus Ex, Dishonored, Bioshock) or Sci-Fi then you owe it to yourself to play Prey as it’s a closet masterpiece. You can like both.
@themightyant I know both statements can be true at once and I don't doubt Prey (arkane) is good. I've heard a lot of praise for it, and it's something I plan to actually play someday. It's not a "I'll never play it" situation, just somr lingering annoyance at Bethesda being Bethesda
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