Xbox Shuts Down 4 Bethesda Studios

Xbox has reportedly shut down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios, and Roundhouse Games, with members of the latter team being folded into ZeniMax Online Studios. Layoffs have been a harsh reality of the video game industry these past couple of years, with companies of all sizes laying off significant portions of their staff or shutting down studios entirely. Xbox itself has engaged in multiple waves of layoffs this past year.

Xbox started 2024 by laying off almost 2,000 employees from the recently-acquired Activision-Blizzard and Xbox, leading to the departure of then-Blizzard president Mike Ybarra. Now Xbox has issued another set of layoffs, this time combined with significant studio closures that have seen multiple developers that fall under the Bethesda umbrella completely shut down.

As reported by IGN, Xbox has decided to shut down Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Studios, and Tango Gameworks, with Roundhouse Games also effectively shutting down by being «absorbed» by ZeniMax Online Studios. In an email from Matt Booty obtained by IGN, it was explained that these shutdowns are about «prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games.» Arkane Austin worked on the 2017 Prey game and Redfall, Tango Gameworks was known for The Evil Within and the critically-acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush, Alpha Dog Studios was working on the Mighty Doom mobile game, and Roundhouse Games was primarily serving a support role at the time of its closure.

Out of these four studios, the one that may come as the biggest shock is the closure of Tango Gameworks. After all, Hi-Fi Rush was a critical success and the studio's previous games were well-received as well. Not only that, but Hi-Fi Rush was chosen as one of the first multi-platform Xbox games. It's possible Shinji Mikami's departure played a role in the decision, but that's just speculation at this time.

Arkane Austin's closure comes in the wake of Redfall's disastrous launch. The co-op