Microsoft Fallout
About a week or so ago, the rumor mill was a-churnin’ about how the surprising popularity of the Fallout TV show – 65 million viewers in 16 days! – was causing Xbox execs heads to extend (pardon my Seuss). Even Todd Howard was saying Bethesda wants to “find ways to increase our output, because we don’t want to wait that long either.” Which is funny, considering that it is Bethesda’s own metered cadence which will ensure that Fallout 5 is not released until the 2030s; Elder Scrolls 6 is next in line after the tepid Starfield, with Fallout 5 not coming out until, presumably, the ending of the TV series.
Welp, cue that monkey paw finger-curl:
Microsoft has closed a number of Bethesda studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda, IGN can confirm.
[…] Arkane Lyon, which is working on Marvel’s Blade, survives the cull, as does Bethesda Game Studios (Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Starfield), and Machine Games (Indiana Jones and The Great Circle). Doom developer id Software is also unaffected.
A further quote from Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, says:
Today I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.
To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us.
Cruel irony abounds, considering a year ago Matt Booty said Microsoft has no plans to shut down Arkane Austin “right now,” after the disastrous Redfall launch. And I guess he was technically accurate. There are fewer charitable interpretations for axing Tango Gameworkers though, considering the effusive praise Hi-Fi Rush received from Microsoft brass – “Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.” Certainly seems like they could have been happier after all.
I don’t want to undersell the sad reality of thousands of game devs losing their jobs. That shit sucks.
…however. In the specific case of Arkane Austin, I have to wonder if there is the barest glimmer of a silver lining. For one thing, it is worth pointing out that no one at Arkane actually wanted to develop Redfall. It was a studio known for immersive sims, and Redfall wasn’t that. In fact, that same report stated that 70% of the team members who worked on Prey left the company during Redfall development. So, really, Microsoft is kinda putting the zombie studio out of its misery.
Oh, but know what might be an interesting franchise for an immersive sim? Fallout. That is wild-ass speculation on my part, and contradictory besides considering most of the immersive sim devs already left. But. BUT! Can you imagine? Of course, it would probably be best (and poetic besides) for Obsidian to take up the mantle of Fallout again, especially considering both studios are under the same (reaving) Microsoft umbrella. Unfortunately, Obsidian is releasing Avowed this year and they are also working on The Outer Worlds 2 for some reason. Seriously though, was anyone asking for that?
Alas, we will have to see how things shake out. Just… goddamn, could someone give me more Fallout?
Posted on May 9, 2024, in Commentary and tagged Arkane Studios Austin, Cruel & Usual, Fallout, Fallout TV, Layoffs, Microsoft. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
In An Age 
Can’t imagine it would be super hard to change Outer Worlds 2 into Fallout 5 midway through development, which let’s be honest, is what they should do.
I wonder if any Bethesda ego would block that, especially since New Vegas is considered by many to be the best Fallout title.
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The original Outer Worlds was definitely a “this is what happens when Obsidian has to write and design a game from scratch” effort, e.g. mid at best. If they leveraged either the Fallout 4 or Fallout 76 engines, they could instead focus most of their efforts on writing, same as was done with New Vegas and Fallout 3. Shit, they even pumped out New Vegas in 18 months. Probably under insane crunch – and the game was unplayable for me for a week at launch – but the point is that it’s possible for something good to have a reasonable turnaround time. Give them 2-3 years to cook this time and it should be fine.
As for Bethesda “ego,” that speculative rivalry has always been overblown IMO, and silly besides. Bethesda creates worlds, Obsidian creates stories. No one is playing Skyrim for its plot. And even if I agree that New Vegas was the best Fallout story (it’s debatable), it actually sold less copies than Fallout 3 or Fallout 4. In fact, Fallout 4 crushed New Vegas, 11.4m to 25m. I preferred the older-style dialog choices, but the commercial success is undeniable. Plus, you know, actual gameplay.
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Funny thing about NV and sales: when it originally came out, I didn’t buy it because I thought it was an overpriced expansion to F3, and the setting (desert) wasn’t interesting at quick glance. Obviously having played it a bunch of times, that’s all wrong, but I wonder how many other potential buyers passed on NV for similar reasons.
As for OW, I thought the first area was masterfully done in all aspects. It was funny, it had some real meaning, it all looked good and was interesting to explore. Then the rest of the game slowly broke down, where by the end I was just rushing to finish and see the ending.
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