In another devastating blow to the game industry yesterday, May 8, Xbox announced that it would be dissolvingRedfalldeveloper Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and the studio behind The Evil WithinandHi-Fi Rush. Tango Gameworks. In a bid to cut costs for the company, the surprise closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division is apparentlynot over yet, as it plans to slash more widespread cutbacks.
One of the most troubling, and baffling, aspects in the closure of Tango Gameworks came from the head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, in a meeting where he suggested that he wanted a game like Hi-Rush after getting rid of the studio that created exactly what he desired—confused yet? Yeah, so am I.
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As reported byThe Verge, Matt Booty conducted a meeting with employees to talk about the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” Booty stated, to the surprise of listeners. This shocking statement comes straight after the company’s decision to close Tango Gameworks which created “the small, prestigious” widely acclaimed and successful title, Hi-Fi Rush.
Hi-Fi Rush was not only a massive hit among Xbox’s player base, but it also won a Game Award, a Game Developers Choice award, and a BAFTA, making it a really successful title in anyone’s eyes, but apparently not Xbox Game Studios given Boot’s bizarre comment. Following Hi-Fi Rush’s release, the vice president of Xbox Games marketing, Aaron Greenberg, took to Twitter/X to gleefullyposthow he “couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.” but a year later, and those proud and passionate sentiments have been washed away by one of the most terrifying times for developers everywhere.
It sadly doesn’t seem to matter anymore whenever studios make the best of the best titles, pouring vast amounts of time and passion into them and giving the company exactly what it wants. What is clear though is that winning awards and being at the helm of a loved game just isn’t enough now, obviously - but what will be?
As the industry eats itself alive and the big corps mindlessly acquire studios they have no real long-term goal for or understanding of, it’s clear from Booty’s comments that these leaders have been wearing blinkers and just can’t see what was right in front of them all along with Hi-Fi Rush, especially given that Tango Gameworks was in the process of pitching a sequel to the game that they initially loved so much and are, ironically, asking for now.
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