Microsoft closing four Bethesda studios

[CurrySpirals]

“Microsoft has now announced it is shutting down four Bethesda studios. Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios are all closing, with employees either being laid off or moved to work on other projects within Bethesda.”

Microsoft appears to be making moves to consolidate Bethesda to focus on its blockbuster franchises. TES, Fallout, and maybe Starfield. Probably mostly Fallout at this time, if I had to guess. Best of luck to those who are losing their jobs.

Do we think this will be a positive change to help refocus Bethesda, or no?

https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-bethesda-studios-closing-arkane-tango

[Darth Revan]

this will have zero impact, those are all studios form bethesdas publishing branch (Bethesda Softworks) and they have nothing to do with the development studio bethesda game studios.

[Starbug]

After redfall, arkane was already a corporate corpse.

[Sedgendary]

Kinda surprised buy Tango though

[Vlad 254]

Some staff will move to BGS so in that respect a tiny impact, some are moving specifically to Elder Scrolls Online. Microsoft also says the consolidation of these Bethesda studios is so Xbox "can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP."

Meh, all minor stuff in the big scheme of things but a business decision.

[Ellorien]

Microsoft knows a cash cow when it sees one. Which is Bethesda and its blockbuster franchises. If Bethesda gets more money and perhaps more creative talent then that’s definitely good news for Bethesda. And for the fans of their games.

[Groogo]

They seem to be shifting much of their focus to mobile gaming as well.

[Mick Savage]

Originally posted by CurrySpirals:

“Microsoft has now announced it is shutting down four Bethesda studios. Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios are all closing, with employees either being laid off or moved to work on other projects within Bethesda.”

Microsoft appears to be making moves to consolidate Bethesda to focus on its blockbuster franchises. TES, Fallout, and maybe Starfield. Probably mostly Fallout at this time, if I had to guess. Best of luck to those who are losing their jobs.

Do we think this will be a positive change to help refocus Bethesda, or no?

https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-bethesda-studios-closing-arkane-tango

This is exactly what I predicted about a week ago, its more evidence SF was a lazy cash grab they knew this was coming. Man I can't believe I fell for Todd's hype.

[Ultrabot]

Originally posted by Bogey:

I thought they are under ZENI soft, or some thing like that.

It's something like sub of a sub of a sub. the game studios are still there, some of the other ones MS bought then renamed B - those are being closed.

[Sedgendary]

Originally posted by Bogey:

I thought they are under ZENI soft, or some thing like that.

They are all under Zenimax but most people don't know who that is so most refer to it as Bethesda

[Darth Revan]

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

Originally posted by CurrySpirals:

“Microsoft has now announced it is shutting down four Bethesda studios. Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios are all closing, with employees either being laid off or moved to work on other projects within Bethesda.”

Microsoft appears to be making moves to consolidate Bethesda to focus on its blockbuster franchises. TES, Fallout, and maybe Starfield. Probably mostly Fallout at this time, if I had to guess. Best of luck to those who are losing their jobs.

Do we think this will be a positive change to help refocus Bethesda, or no?

https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-bethesda-studios-closing-arkane-tango

This is exactly what I predicted about a week ago, its more evidence SF was a lazy cash grab they knew this was coming. Man I can't believe I fell for Todd's hype.

none of those studios had anything to do with starfield or bethesda game studios

[CurrySpirals]

Originally posted by Sedgendary:

Kinda surprised buy Tango though

I initially was as well, but then was reminded by a comment on the article that Shinji Mikami had left in 2023, so it made a bit more sense.

[CurrySpirals]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

Some staff will move to BGS so in that respect a tiny impact, some are moving specifically to Elder Scrolls Online. Microsoft also says the consolidation of these Bethesda studios is so Xbox "can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP."

Meh, all minor stuff in the big scheme of things but a business decision.

I have seen a lot of articles the last few weeks about Microsoft wanting to speed up Bethesda development, get a new Fallout game done sooner rather than later. Todd Howard has publicly made similar comments. I’m wondering if this is the first step.

It’s unclear how many people are losing jobs vs moving to another teams, but I see this as a sign Microsoft is trying to get Bethesda focused on “core” properties.

[Vlad 254]

If anything as far as Starfield (and Fallout) is concerned it's good news although I'm sure some will try to spin it as bad. But overall I think it's won't have a major impact either way, an impact sure but it's not earth shattering imo.

So in that sense I agree with Ellorien who said

Originally posted by Ellorien:

Microsoft knows a cash cow when it sees one. [...]

Yes Microsoft focusing on BGS for gaming is a wise move.

[Mick Savage]

Originally posted by Darth Revan:

Originally posted by Mick Salvage:

This is exactly what I predicted about a week ago, its more evidence SF was a lazy cash grab they knew this was coming. Man I can't believe I fell for Todd's hype.

none of those studios had anything to do with starfield or bethesda game studios

That's not what I said lol

They knew Beth was about to be completely dissolved into MS, this project was their last and they knew it, just a cash grab nothing more.

Now it's up to the modders because I have zero faith they will fix anything before they're gone for good into the loving MS family haha

[wendigo211]

From what I've read, no one from those studios is being shifted to BGS. However, I did see a few articles about Microsoft pressuring BGS to prioritize Fallout 5 after the success of the TV show. The good news is Microsoft owns OEI and Bethsoft, so they can get Obsidian to make a Fallout sequel whether Todd likes it or not (OEI was always keen on it, Bethsoft didn't want it). The bad news is most of the NV writers from OEI have moved on to other studios.