Why does this keep happening? (Thoughts on Xbox studio closures)

     Hey there, friends. I unfortunately come with some bad news once again. It's no secret that the past few years have not been kind to game developers, with everyone in the industry being affected in one way or another. More people have been laid off in the past two years than they have been in a long time, and today we have another story of a big studio buying several companies and now shutting them down. Microsoft has announced the closure of, among many smaller ones, Tango Gameworks, the studio behind Hi-Fi Rush and Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Arkane Austin, which most recently made the not-so-good Redfall, but in the past were responsible for Prey. It's always such a shame when you hear smaller studios like these under a massive corporate umbrella being broken down and cannibalized for other studios under the tent. Today I'm going to be delivering a much shorter post, but one that is far more important than others that I've talked about in the past.

Nothing but shame to be had.

    It's not a surprise to say that the video game industry is built on the backs of so many workers who have risked absolutely everything to work in this uncertain environment that they love. Despite the news of so many who have been let go or whose entire game has been deleted and cancelled, people are still called to create something special. The people in charge have proven time and time again that they simply don't care about the common worker, and the blame is pretty spread out across the board, but I have even less patience for Microsoft than I do for many other companies guilty of the same or similar things. Why is that, you may ask? Activision Blizzard, responsible for so many people losing their jobs on top of horrible sexual misconduct and gross mismanagement of all kinds over the past few years was purchased by Microsoft the year after Zenimax Media, and the former CEO Bobby Kotick, responsible for truly evil acts if you ask me, was able to get out of the company with a golden parachute. Even in the midst of so many losing their jobs, Mr. Kotick is going to be just fine. The industry as a whole is not fair, and the men and women that work in the common development roles deserve so much better than they get. This is my biggest issue with this whole situation, but moving forward I will try my best to focus on the real shame and atrocity that so many involved in the industry deal with on a regular basis.

     If you'll recall, I spoke about Microsoft's purchases of some of these studios when they first came about a few years ago as part of the massive Zenimax Media deal. I referred to Prey as one of the titles that was being pushed by the marketing as part of the most exciting parts of this acquisition deal, and yet the studio behind that game has now been canned. It's true that Redfall was a huge failure both critically and commercially, but last June, right after the game came out, there was an interview (found here on VG247. com) where Matt Booty, the chief of Xbox Game Studios said the people working at Arkane Austin didn't need to worry about their jobs. Clearly that has changed now, and perhaps the studio hasn't been able to bounce back as quickly as they would have hoped, which has perhaps led to this closure, but that certainly is not the case for our other major closure here. Hi-Fi Rush has been one of the most creative games to come out as an Xbox exclusive in a long time, with beautiful visuals and interesting and fun mechanics to lend to the bizarre "Rhythm-Action" game. On top of this, it's one of the four titles that Microsoft pushed forward as a release on every platform, so it's bizarre to just shutter the studio behind that game, and not even redistribute the workers to other Microsoft-owned studios. I just don't understand this look that they bought the entirety of Zenimax Media for $7.5 Billion and they're already closing some of the most prominent studios that they had. They still have Bethesda Game Studios, Id Software, Machine Games, Arkane Lyon, and a few others that are actively working on upcoming projects, but the people here that have been fired have been responsible for some fantastic games. They perhaps didn't meet Microsoft's lofty goals, but on the plus side, the shareholders will probably be happy by whatever amount of money they're making saving by cutting all of the salaries for the workers who are suddenly being let go. I cannot begin to fathom the idea of closing one of the most promising studios that they got from the Bethesda buyout in the form of Tango, especially fresh off the heels of what from the outside (meaning that I don't know the sales data) appeared to be a hit. Hi-Fi Rush was all the rage when it came out last year, and maybe it just didn't sell that well on other consoles that they ported it to, but it just seems like a no brainer that they would support some of their wildly creative products for years to come. 

    Obviously, all companies have the main responsibility to make money no matter how, but to do that as a direct consequence of closing down an entire developer like this just seems like a really irredeemable act. Microsoft is not hurting for money, and the most recent estimates place it somewhere around 3 trillion dollars, which is an insane amount for them to be pulling some wild move like this. The shareholders were already very happy, I'm sure, and I would love for this move to backfire on Microsoft in some major way. I don't think it'll happen, other than just the general public backlash happening online right now. People are still going to buy whatever games they put out next, console and game sales will not flag most likely, but it would be so nice if the higher ups were somehow punished for this or faced some sort of consequence to prevent this from happening again. Ironically one of the heads of Xbox Game Studios, the aforementioned Matt Booty, delivered a "town hall" meeting the day after the closure of these studios. In this meeting, many things were brought up, such as the reason for these particular developers being shut down. They stated that they were still in the process of pitching ideas while the other developers were actively working on their next ones, which begs the question, was this just a split second decision? Obviously game developers have to pitch something new before they just begin working on something, especially in the current situation that these companies were in, being under Microsoft. In addition to this, the worst piece of information that I've seen so far is that Mr. Booty told the staff of the different former ZeniMax studios that they need, "...smaller games that give us prestige and awards." I had to do a double take when I read this article (which can be found here where IGN wrote about this meeting). Hi-Fi Rush was exactly that kind of game. It was short, and they got lots of critical acclaim for it, with many people (myself included) feeling that it was the best and most innovative game that Microsoft has produced in a long time. It seems like such a ridiculous statement for them to make the day after shutting down Tango, and honestly it's extremely tone-deaf to the people who worked so hard to make it.

    As I close, I would like to bring up a little story about Nintendo, and specifically Satoru Iwata, the late former CEO of Nintendo. The Wii U was a good console I thought, but it didn't sell anywhere near as well as they would have liked, and the company was in some tough financial times for a few years. They were never really at risk of going out of business or anything like that, but layoffs seemed nearly inevitable for the company's lower work force. Instead of this, however, Mr. Iwata took a nearly 50% paycut along with many of his fellow higher ups, so that they could continue to support the company's workforce. He was quoted as saying, "If we reduce the number of employees for short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world." (An article from CNBC in January 2024 wrote this up here) It's not a touchy-feely kind of statement, but it makes sense. What loyalty can workers show to a company that has proven time and time again that they can and will fire you at any time for any reason, even in times of financial growth? This is not the only mass firing this year, there have been so many let go in this industry, but this is one of the more cruel stories that I've seen in a while. My best wishes go out to the incredibly talented people that were let go in light of this whole situation, and I hope that you're all able to find work somewhere that treats you a little better.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. Obviously this isn't good news. I try to stay on the positive side for the most part, but this year just continues to beat down the men and women who work incredibly hard in this industry. It's not fair to continue thinking that everything is fine. Video games are such a profitable medium right now, it seems obvious that we should treat the workers with respect, and  maybe someday the people in charge of the big companies will also come to that conclusion. I will say that I don't think Microsoft is the worst video game company out there, but this precedent for buying studios for two or three years before closing them down is one of the most dangerous moves in the whole industry. I hope you're all having a great week and I hope something that you read today will stick with you. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, and I hope that you're all doing well.