Game news “I have to run a viable business” When Phil Spencer talks about studio closures, he doesn’t mince his words
It was during a recent interview that Phil Spencer, the gaming boss at Microsoft, spoke about the closures of Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin. Pragmatism, did you say pragmatism?
Too many closures
Remember, at the very beginning of May, the green ogre swept aside Alpha Dog Studios (Mighty Doom), Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall) but also Tango Gameworks, Shinji Mikami’s former studio to whom we owed The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo, and especially Hi-Fi Rush, the highest rated Xbox game of the year 2023. This caused a huge wave of support for the impacted teams, as well as a torrent of insults towards the American manufacturer.
Matt Booty, the head of the brand’s first party studios, explained these “changes” by the necessity of “prioritize high-impact titles”, and to identify “opportunities best positioned for success”, to enable “further investment in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games”. “Don’t use us as doormats for miscalculations” was indignant Dinga Bakaba from Arkane Lyon on X following the sad news.
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The end justifies the means
We were waiting for the post Xbox Games Showcase interviews in order to learn more about Microsoft’s motivations, and about certain criticized choices of its recent policy. It was in the presence of an audience and in the company of IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey that Phil Spencer discussed these dismissals. “This is obviously a very difficult decision to make, and I want to make sure, through severance packages and other measures, that we are doing the right thing for team members” he said.
Regarding the closure of Tango Gameworks, the head of gaming at Microsoft says he made this decision even if he didn’t like it. “I have said over and over again that I need to run a viable business within the company and grow it” did he declare. “And that means I sometimes have to make tough decisions that, frankly, aren’t decisions I like, but decisions someone has to make” we hear. Spencer concludes: “we’ll continue to move forward, we’ll continue to invest in what we’re trying to do with Xbox, and we’ll build the best business possible, which will allow us to continue to do shows like the one we just did”.
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