Microsoft’s decision to close several development studios, such as Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and more, has generally been met with a big thumbs-down online. Tango was responsible for break-out hit Hi-Fi Rush in 2023, a game considered one of the best on Xbox in recent years, and went on to win a BAFTA for Animation.
Hi-Fi Rush is still available on Xbox Game Pass, or you can purchase it digitally at a discount right now. It’s 35% off via the Microsoft Store, down to $19.49 (or equivalent in your region). This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen the game drop to on Xbox.
Hi-Fi Rush is also a part of the Humble Choice Bundle for May, alongside Yakuza Like A Dragon, Steel Rising, and more. You can join Humble Choice for $11.99/month (£8.99/month for the UK), collecting all these PC games to keep permanently, and you can skip a month or cancel anytime. To top things off, each code included is for Steam.
Both developers and fans have shared their disappointment at the studio closures at Microsoft. Announced to staff via email on the morning of May 7, 2024. Head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty told employees of the studios, which joined Microsoft under Bethesda parent company ZeniMax, the cuts were a result of the “reprioritization of titles and resources.”
“This is absolutely terrible,” wrote Arkane Lyon director Dinga Bakaba on X/Twitter, whose studio survived the closures and will continue working on Marvel’s Blade. “To any executive reading this: friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment and cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists and entertainers and help them create value for you.”
Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in 2021 for $7.5 billion and with it came Bethesda studios such as Arkane, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games. Its acquisition streak reached new heights in 2023 with the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which finally went through in October 2023, just six months before it closed these other studios.
Xbox also announced The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios would absorb Roundhouse Studios, but the other Bethesda teams would be unaffected. Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 developer Bethesda Game Studios, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle developer Machine Games, Doom developer id Software, and the aforementioned Marvel’s Blade developer Arkane Lyon are all unaffected.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
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