Microsoft shuts down the studio behind The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush in their latest round of mass layoffs.
It’s sad to say that 2024 has been the year for layoffs in the games industry. Countless game publishers and studios have announced severe “restructuring” plans, resulting in thousands of lost jobs.
These latest layoffs are Microsoft’s second this year. Last time, it was Activision Blizzard that bore the brunt of the heat right after Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar acquisition, letting go of almost 2,000 employees.
This time, it was Bethesda caught in the corporate crosshairs, with Microsoft shutting down three Bethesda studios today:
- Arkane Austin, the studio behind Redfall
- Alpha Dog Games, maker of the Doom mobile game, Mighty Doom
- Tango Gameworks, developers of Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and The Evil Within franchise
Of the three studios, I’m utterly shocked that Tango Gameworks was included on the list of closures. Most of their recent releases were critical, and likely commercial, successes, and Hi-Fi Rush is literally one of Xbox’s highest-rated first-party games.
The other two studios are perhaps less of a shock. Alpha Dog Games is a mobile game studio with far less pedigree than other Bethesda studios – and presumably the first on the chopping block when it comes to cuts.
Arkane Austin released the critical and commercial flop that was Redfall in April 2023. Full of glitches, broken AI, and underwhelming gameplay, Redfall fell flat on its release and never managed the comeback of other games with disappointing releases, such as Cyberpunk or No Man’s Sky.
As mentioned in our other article, the closure of Arkane Austin means that Redfall disappointingly will no longer receive its promised DLC or any future updates.
It’s unknown why Tango was included on the chopping block of the corporate lay-offs.
For horror fans, it’s especially sad that this is likely the end of The Evil Within franchise, a much-loved survival horror series. The franchise was a cult classic in the genre, and is definitely worth trying for players who haven’t tried it out yet.
In today’s Tweet, Tango Gameworks wished their fans goodbye and assured them that their titles will remain available for purchase.
— Tango Gameworks (EN) (@TangoGameworks) May 7, 2024
Remembering Tango Gameworks: 2010 to 2014
The story of Tango Gameworks all begins with Shinji Mikami, who you might recognize as the original creator of the first Resident Evil game. After leaving Capcom and working on some freelance projects, he founded his own studio in Tokyo: Tango. The studio’s first game in development was an open-world sci-fi adventure game titled Noah. However, shortly after starting development, the studio ran into financial issues.
Likely due to Mikami’s previous success with Resident Evil, Tango was rescued by the golden goose that is Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax. After the acquisition, Tango began work on Zwei, a vampire-hunting game, which later evolved into the familiar The Evil Within. Launching in 2014, The Evil Within was praised for its innovative gameplay and creepy ambiance, and a sequel was soon greenlit and released in 2017.
Tango Gameworks, and its parent Bethesda, were acquired by Microsoft in 2021 as part of the tech company’s spending spree on game studios and publishers.
Tango’s first game under Microsoft, Ghostwire: Tokyo kept some of its horror roots as it explored themes surrounding ghosts and the afterlife.
But it turns out that the studio’s best game – Hi-Fi Rush – would also be its last. Marking a dramatic change in style, Hi-Fi Rush was a rhythm-based action game, which was critically acclaimed for its audio and character design.
And that brings us up to May 7th. Over 50 employees worked at Tango Gameworks, and it’s not currently known whether they will be laid off or moved to a different department underneath the colossal umbrella that is the Xbox Game Studios.
The team at Horror Game News expresses our sadness surrounding today’s unfortunate news, and we wish all those affected by the layoffs the best.