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Report: Xbox Closing Studios Blamed On Too Many Games
8.5.2024
After shutting down multiple Bethesda studios, Xbox and Bethesda leadership held a town hall meeting with staff to discuss the closures, explaining that the company’s studios had been spread too thin and that it wanted to focus on fewer projects moving forward.Read more
Xbox’s Shift To ‘High-Impact’ Games Is Misguided At Best, Reckless At Worst
8.5.2024
Earlier this week, Xbox announced that it would be shuttering several studios it had attained as part of its $7.5 billion purchase of Bethesda, including Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios, the last of which is being absorbed into another team. Collectively,...
Dishonored Developer Shares The Personal Pain Of Microsoft's Studio Closures
8.5.2024
Harvey Smith, the now-former studio director at Arkane Austin, has taken to X/Twitter to express his feelings about Microsoft’s sudden and shocking closure of the beloved developer, alongside three other Bethesda-adjacent studios, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games. The team...
Report: Devs Were Working On Redfall's Offline Mode Up Until They Were Fired
8.5.2024
Earlier today, Redfall development studio Arkane Austin was closed by Xbox alongside Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games. And it sounds like, before the shutdown, the team was working on new content and updates for the vampire-hunting shooter that, now, won’t ever be released.Read more
Hi-Fi Rush Was The Hit Xbox Needed, And It Still Wasn't Enough For Them
7.5.2024
Today, May 7, Xbox announced it’s shutting down three studios and merging another. This includes Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Mobile Doom studio Alpha Dog Games, while Roundhouse Games is being absorbed into Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios. But perhaps most shocking...
'A F***ing Gut Stab': Game Industry Reacts To Shocking New Studio Closures
7.5.2024
One of the worst years for cancellations, cuts, and closures in the history of the video game industry has just claimed its next victims, including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. Developers and fans alike are in disbelief. “Great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it’s a fucking...
Microsoft Promises 'Make-Good Offers' As It Cancels Redfall DLC Players Already Paid For
7.5.2024
Just days after Redfall’s one-year anniversary, Microsoft has announced it’s shutting down the studio behind it, Arkane Austin, and ending all further development on the vampire shooter. That includes its promised Hero DLC which some fans already paid for in the $100 Bite Back edition of the Xbox...
Microsoft Closes Studios Behind Redfall, Hi-Fi Rush, And More To Prioritize 'High-Impact' Games
7.5.2024
Xbox is shutting down four studios in its first-party stable, specifically ones that fall under the Bethesda/ZeniMax umbrella. The brutal cuts will affect Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and Mobile Doom developer Alpha Dog Games. ZeniMax subsidiary Roundhouse...
A Year Later, Redfall Players Who Spent $100 Are Still Waiting For Its Promised Heroes
2.5.2024
Players were excited at the prospect that Redfall might combine the fun co-op loot mechanics of a Borderlands with the bespoke environmental storytelling of a Dishonored. Ultimately, though, the day-one Game Pass blockbuster didn’t quite accomplish either of these things, and it was burdened...
Dishonored Devs Working On Marvel's Blade
8.12.2023
Announced tonight during The Game Awards, Arkane’s next game includes vampires, but it isn’t a Redfall sequel. Instead, the studio is making a Blade game that it says will be an “immersive third-person” adventure. Read more
Big Xbox Shakeup Might Avoid Another Redfall Debacle
26.10.2023
Today Microsoft announced a re-organization within its Xbox division that will see ZeniMax and Bethesda Game Studios report more directly to head of game services, Matt Booty. The shift comes after vampire shooter Redfall was so poorly recieved that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer went on a...
Redfall Finally Gets 60fps Mode On Console In Its Biggest Update Yet
6.10.2023
After months of silence, vampire shooter Redfall is receiving its biggest update yet following a disastrous launch back in May. The second big patch will add the Game Pass multiplayer game’s long-awaited 60 frames-per-second mode on Xbox Series X/S, as well as a host of gameplay improvements...
Bethesda Road Map Leaks, Includes Oblivion Remaster And Dishonored 3
19.9.2023
Bethesda is (or was) reportedly working on remasters for Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, according to a document released as part of a massive Microsoft leak. A bevy of partially redacted/confidential emails and documents that were a part of the FTC case against the monolithic game...
Meet The Fans Still Playing The Worst Xbox Exclusive Of The Year
7.7.2023
Earlier this year, Arkane Austin’s Redfall entered the pantheon of terrible game launches. Taking up its place alongside Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 76, No Man’s Sky, and many more, the long-awaited Xbox exclusive struggled with performance, felt incomplete, and was full of opposing ideas that just...
It’s Sony’s Fault We Have Console Exclusives, Says Microsoft CEO
29.6.2023
As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continues to drag Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard under a microscope, the company’s CEO wants you to know it’s actually Sony’s fault that console exclusives exist.Read more
Amazon Prime Is Giving Away Some Pretty Good PC Games, Overwatch Levels For Free
23.6.2023
Amazon Prime Day is still a couple weeks away, but from now until July 12 you can begin picking up some extra free gaming perks for those already subscribed to the service. First up is Prey, the excellent 2017 immersive sim that Arkane Austin made before shipping the troubled Game Pass exclusive...
Tensions Rise At Bethesda As Employees Pressure Company On Abortion Measures
1.7.2022
In the wake of Roe v. Wade being struck down last week, many employees at Skyrim maker Bethesda Game Studios and its parent company ZeniMax Media have grown increasingly frustrated by what they see as their employer’s unwillingness to clearly support employees’ access to reproductive healthcare....
Bethesda Really Wants Y’all To Know That Redfall Ain’t Left 4 Dead
14.6.2022
Redfall is the next big game from Bethesda and Arkane, makers of immersive sims like Prey and Dishonored. It opened last weekend’s Xbox showcase event. And a lot of the trailers and footage shown so far make it look a lot like Left 4 Dead. Bethesda, it seems, is not pleased about those comparisons...
The Human Toll Of Fallout 76’s Disastrous Launch
8.6.2022
“No one wanted to be on that project because it ate people. It destroyed people,” one former developer on Fallout 76 told Kotaku. “The amount of people who would go to that project, and then they would quit [Bethesda] was quite high.” Read more
Sci-Fi Horror Masterpiece Prey Currently Free On PC, Along With Other Great Games
12.5.2022
Arkane’s fantastic sci-fi immersive sim Prey is currently free via the Epic Games Store alongside two other great games. And we’ll talk about those games in a moment. But first let’s chat about what makes Prey so damn good. Read more