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The Buck Stops With Phil Spencer, 1000xRESIST Is A Must-Play, And More Gaming Opinions For The Week
11.5.2024
People had strong feelings, to put it mildly, after Xbox shuttered Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and other studios, and we share some of our own. Also,PlayStation finally relented on a requirement that PC players maintain a PSN account, but not before colossal fan uproar, and as the dust started...
Xbox Shutters Studios, Switch 2 Specs May Have Leaked, And More Of The Week's Gaming News
11.5.2024
This past week started with a shock, as Microsoft announced it was closing a number of studios including Tango Gameworks, responsible for the very well-liked Hi-Fi Rush, leading many to wonder just what a studio has to achieve in this day and age to be deemed successful enough to exist. Also,...
Kotaku's Weekend Guide: 9 Incredible Games We Can’t Stop Thinking About
10.5.2024
Whether you have a bunch of free time or hardly any at all, whether you’re playing on console or PC, there are plenty of great games to obsess over right now. Our recommendations for what to play this weekend include everything from sci-fi thrillers and loot-driven action-RPGs to esoteric puzzle...
The Xbox Fallout: Breaking Down Microsoft's Worst Gaming Week In Years
10.5.2024
It has been a very bad week for Xbox Game Studios. On Tuesday, May 7, Microsoft announced it would shut down three studios: Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush creators Tango Gameworks, and Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games. On top of this, Roadhouse Games is being absorbed into Elder...
Meet The Guy Who Just Nuked Xbox Boss Phil Spencer In Fallout 76
9.5.2024
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is taking a lot of heat online for recent decisions to close beloved studios like Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. Last night the long-time gaming exec was apparently exploring the wasteland in Fallout 76 when another player nuked his entire campsite. Read more
Soon Your Nintendo Switch Won't Connect To Twitter Any More
9.5.2024
Elon Musk continues to run X (formerly Twitter) in a variety of questionable ways, and surely one of the oddest is the decision to charge vast amounts of money for access to the site’s API. As such, major firms are dropping integration with the hellsite, the latest being Nintendo. From June 10,...
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,...
What’s Even The Point Of Xbox Game Pass Now?
8.5.2024
On May 7, Microsoft closed down four first-party development studios it had acquired from Zenimax Media in 2021 including Tango Gameworks, developer of The Evil Within series and 2023’s surprise hit Hi-Fi Rush. It’s the latest round of layoffs and closures that the gaming industry, and Xbox...
Apple’s New iPad Ad Sparks Loud, Immediate Backlash
8.5.2024
Sometimes, you get blatant reminders of how much disregard big tech has for, well, everything. Whether that’s exorbitant spending on acquisitions, layoffs of hundreds to thousands of people, and refusing to release or delist its employees’ hard work for a tax write-off. But now and then, you...
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
Microsoft Tried To 'Steal' Little Big Planet From Sony
7.5.2024
According to Media Molecule’s co-founder Mark Healey—the creative director on Little Big Planet, its sequel, and Dreams—early on in LBP’s creation, Microsoft was “on the prowl” and trying to “steal” the game from Sony. Read more
It's Time To Stop Giving Xbox Boss Phil Spencer A Pass
7.5.2024
On May 7, Xbox announced that it was closing four studios: Arkane Austin (Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush), Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), and support studio Roundhouse Games. The news is yet another example of Xbox—which has spent billions buying up studios—cutting costs, laying people...
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...
Pokémon And Mario Kart Fans Fight Nintendo Network Shutdown To Beat 14-Year-Old Halo 2 Record
6.5.2024
In 2010, a group of Halo 2 diehards called “Noble 14” stayed logged into the multiplayer shooter for weeks after Microsoft turned off the online servers for the original Xbox on April 14. The service’s last player was Apache N4SIR who finally got booted just after midnight on May 11. Fourteen years...
One Of The Best Star Wars Games Is Free To Try On Xbox Right Now
3.5.2024
It’s almost Star Wars Day, and just ahead of May 4, Microsoft has announced a free trial for one of the best games based on George Lucas’ space opera franchise. I’m talking about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to 2019’s Jedi: Fallen Order, and if you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you...