The cycle continues. Small studio bought by large company. Key people eventually leave and start up a new small studio. Repeat.
This week, Microsoft — a company that already announced layoffs of 1,900 game workers earlier this year — once again took the scythe to its own workforce, shuttering four Bethesda studios in a single swing. It did so, according to an email to staff from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, to “double down” on franchises.
Sooo…Fallout is a franchise. You could double down on that and do Fallout 5.
googles
Microsoft guts four studios to focus on priority games aka Bethesda games
Oooh.
Adding to the ever-increasing list of game developers losing their jobs, Microsoft Xbox has shuttered three studios it acquired with Activision Blizzard, according to IGN. The three shuttered development studios in question are Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush, The Evil Within, Ghostwire), Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), and Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall). Roundhouse Games is also being absorbed into ZeniMax Online Studios to work on The Elder Scrolls Online.
Oh. The other Bethesda franchise. Well, I guess that series is okay too.
https://www.gamingbible.com/news/platform/fallout-5-release-date-update-492501-20240507
As you’d expect fans are desperate to know more, and frantically searching for some sort of release window to look forward to.
This eventually led to them reaching out to Emil Pagliarulo, who acted as writing director for Starfield, lead designer for Fallout 4, and finally senior designer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for potential answers.
Pagliarulo described it as a “good question,” and a “complicated question,” before saying “development times can vary for a variety of reasons. On Starfield, we spent a lot of time updating and developing tech. We also paused for a bit to assist with Fallout 76.”
They went on to say: “At the end of the day, though, it always comes down to that most important resource of all – people. As with any dev team, we have talented folks who need time to make great stuff. So we can’t do everything at once.”
So, if Bethesda decides to keep Fallout 5 in its grasp, bad news for the game’s release date as juggling three games at once doesn’t seem achievable, even for a studio as big as Bethesda is.
Well, maybe they’ll license it out to someone.
“At the end of the day, though, it always comes down to that most important resource of all – people."
You know, like the ones we just fired…
Maybe it’s time for these massive publishers to become irrelevant anyway. They’re only in it for the money. Steam has proven that there’s plenty of market for games made by small, independent publishers.
No one going to miss these publishers. They think by hoarding franchises , but firing devs who actually made these franchises great, they could ride the coattails to success. But, they need to learn the lesson that franchises only matter as long as people care about them and people only care about as long as the games are actually good. By killing studios and firing devs, you lose the ability to make great games and then, your hoarded franchises fade into irrelevance.
Arkane’s gone? Aw.
Honestly, I hadn’t seen any of their stuff until Redfall flopped and was in the news for flopping.
looks
Ah, they did Arx Fatalis back around 2000.
I don’t think that I’ve played anything newer from them, though. Looks like they shifted from RPGs to first-person shooters after that.
They believe themselves to be large and dominant enough to control the market itself, so it would be impossible for themselves to become irrelevant.
That’s the strategy it seems at least.
