Xbox Shuts Down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and a Couple More Bethesda Softworks Studios

Microsoft's Xbox division has decided to shut down four Bethesda Softworks studios, the most prominent being Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.

Arkane Austin was essentially one and the same with Arkane Lyon up until Dishonored 2, which was the first game to be developed specifically by the French office. Austin then delivered Prey, which attracted controversy ahead of its release because it appropriated the name of the 2006 cult game by Human Head Studios and also forced a name change on an indie game. On the other hand, Prey was an absolutely fantastic game that received high critical praise upon release, albeit without a big commercial success (though that's always been a trademark of Arkane).

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However, Arkane Austin famously blundered the release of Redfall. Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty and Bethesda's Pete Hines had promised the studio would improve the game over time, but despite a few patches, owners of the Bite Back Edition never received the two additional heroes that were supposed to be released as part of the included Redfall Hero Pass. Now, it is likely they never will, though Microsoft has promised 'make-good offers' for those who own the DLC.

As for Tango Gameworks, its closure is arguably even more baffling. The Japanese studio founded in 2010 by industry legend Shinji Mikami released acclaimed games like the two The Evil Within survival horror titles, Ghostwire: Tokyo and, most recently, Hi-Fi Rush, which became something of a surprise hit among hardcore gamers. Granted, none of these games ever set the sales charts on fire, but this was also the only Japanese studio owned by Microsoft, and it's now gone.

The other two studios are Alpha Dog Games (also known as ZeniMax Halifax), the mobile developer behind the game The Mighty Doom, and Roundhouse Studios. The latter studio was actually born out of Human Head Studios in late 2019. According to