Microsoft is killing off Arkane Austin

[673f215c99972JDoran]

"Microsoft is shutting four studios, including Tango Gameworks, the developers of Bafta award-winning Hi-Fi Rush.
The Tokyo studio is being closed alongside Texas-based Arkane Austin and Canadian developer Alpha Dog Studios.

Wisconsin-based Roundhouse Games will be absorbed into Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios.

Microsoft has not said how many jobs will be cut as a result of the closures, which are all being made at subsidiary Bethesda - which the tech giant bought for $7.5bn (then £5.85bn) in 2020.

"I just want to say that I love all the people at Arkane Austin so much," said studio head Harvey Smith in a post on X, external."


Source: The BBC news website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72p5epzj2no

[673f215c99b0efox]

Not surprised after RedFall and the way they handled its aftermath.

[673f215c99d45JDoran]

Yes. I didn't think we'd ever see a Prey 2, or a Dishonored 3, since it seemed like Arkane had abandoned the immersive sim genre for a more popular style of game, but I did have some hope.

My favourite games developer used to be Rare. Then Microsoft bought Rare, and forced them to not release the type of games that people wanted, but to instead release either much more generic titles (which were presumably quicker and easier to make and to get out the door) or games for the Kinnect (the XBox only gesture reading hardware add-on). I don't know if Rare are still going, and don't care, but at one time I, and many millions of other gamers, used to avidly watch for news of Rare's new and future titles.

Thanks, Microsoft.

And give it five years, and there will probably be less than a dozen game publishers (MS, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, etc) who own (or more likely did own, but now have closed down) most of the games development houses. Other than the purely indie developers, I mean. And those few major publishers will be able to dictate how games are delivered to us, what DRM we are forced to endure, the costs of the games, how long we can use them for, and whatever else the companies can change to their advantage. And those companies will conspire together to make sure we don't have alternative options open to us that would allow us to bypass the customer-unfriendly things that are being forced upon us.

[673f215c99ea6fox]

Although I am pessimistic about the forseeable future of gaming too, I'm not feeling entirely hopless about the occasional enjoyable FP-RPG/ImSim-game. I'm not expecting them to ever impress me like the ones we already know and love again and they will be rare but AI in tandem with some inspired and capable dev-teams might indeed help create some really immersive game experiences and counter the problem of exploding development costs to a degree - while it's also going to ruin mankind on multiple other levels. Eh, what can you do... 

[673f215c9a0d3icemann]

I absolutely adore Prey and Dishonored 1&2. Arkane for me was good up to Prey / Mooncrash, and then dropped off after that.

Deathloop just looked really boring from what I read about it + saw in gameplay vids so never checked out. Everything else they put out from then on just didn't interest me. I suspect the same was felt by a lot of the gaming public. Sad to see Arkane go. Would have loved to have seen a Prey 2 at the very least.

As for favourite game developer that's now gone away. Be either Origin, or Blizzard pre-Activision takeover.

[673f215c9a40efox]

But if I'm not mistaken, Arkane Studios (Lyon-based) are not dead yet, only Arkane Austin. Since Raphaël Colantonio left after Prey, I really don't have much hope for any good Prey or Dishonored-sequels coming from them though.

It's a bit confusing but according to the webs: Austin was mostly behind Prey, Prey: Mooncrash, Dishonored 1 and RedFall, while Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Dishonored 2 and Deathloop were mostly created by Arkane Studios in Lyon. I actually found Dishonored 2 siginficantly improved on the first game.

Many important people have abandoned Arkane altogether since Prey anyway.

Jason Schreier: Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings

Booty added that the shutdown of subsidiary Arkane Austin, the longtime developer of games such as Prey, was not connected to the performance of its new multiplayer game, Redfall, a critical and commercial flop.

I doubt it.

Before its closure, Arkane had been looking to return to its roots by pitching a new single-player “immersive sim” game, such as a new entry in the Dishonored series, according to the people familiar.

Hard to say, if that would have been a good thing at this point. Maybe RedFall could have acted as their wake up-call, maybe they simply ran low on vision without Colantonio.

Btw: Arkane Lyon's next game was announced to be "Marvel's Blade".

Marvel's Blade is a narrative-driven, third-person action-adventure title, representing a departure from previous games developed by Arkane Lyon which were usually played from a first-person perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=basLDO2bj2k

[673f215c9a5afJDoran]

I'm showing my age here, but I can remember when game trailers tended to show actual gameplay...

Fox, I too much prefer Dishonored 2 over the (still brilliant) original Dishonored, though from what I've read many people prefer the original for some reason(s). I had hoped that Arkane might somehow get the contract to write a new Thief game too, something much better and truer to the first three Thief games than Thief 2014 was (though in my view Thief 2014 wasn't awful, just very inferior to the first three games).

[673f215c9a7a0ZylonBane]

Why did it have to be fucking Blade.

"Hey so a vampire-hunting game killed Arkane Austin, let's see how it goes for Arkane Lyon!"

[673f215c9aa05Join2]

I don't think it was the theme/setting that killed Austin lol, but rather the game design, marketing and business practices.

I am a fan of Blade media, the first movie and PS1 game especially. I was not keeping my eye on Redfall because it's multiplayer lootbox (or whatever) type shit. I don't play multiplayer games. I will however be keeping my eye on Blade, but likely not for long as in my opinion Arkane have been not great devs for decades (I only truly respect Arx Fatalis) so my expectations are low. Their games are just too damn casual, lack integrity and a backbone i.e Dishonored, or are unfinished/rushed i.e Dark Messiah. The gameboy color Blade game will probably be a better game despite being nothing too special. Simple game but everything that it does do has purpose and substance without compromise. That is what I respect.

Still, it is an odd business choice. Blade, the media that hasn't been relevant since the 90s/was killed off by dumb movie sequels in the early 2000s? Still, it is a known IP and that is better than unknown risk I suppose.

[673f215c9ac6cfox]

"Hey so a vampire-hunting game killed Arkane Austin, let's see how it goes for Arkane Lyon!"

That's what I thought but they allegedly started development of this game in January 2022, which is long before RedFall's disatrous release in May 2023. They were most likely still hoping for it to become a success by that time and maybe get some 'synergies' from it.

I found the Blade movies (1 and 2) sufficiently entertaining back in the days but so far I'm, not very interested in a third-person action-adventure about it and that teaser/trailer really isn't anything to write home about.

I wouldn't have minded a shot at a Thief or a serious VTMB-like from Arkane but I guess they'll have to do whatever MS wants them to do next at this point - and that would have to become a commercial success first and foremost.

Edit: Ok, strike the VTMB-like. A dialogue-heavy RPG game like VTMB wouldn't be a good fit for the Arkane we know. Characters and dialogue never seemed to be their strong suit.

[673f215c9adfeicemann]

I quite liked the first 2 Blade movies as well. 3rd was meh.

A Blade game could have certainly worked. I'm thinking something like Cyberpunk in terms of a city you move around in, in first person. Go around hunting vamps, increasing your powers as you level up, and doing quests and side stuff. Maybe delve deeper into vamp lore.

If they want to take a page from the 2nd movie, have various vampire clans (like in Masquerade) as well as human allies that could act as optional companions to take along (Fallout style). Since he had a heap of fancy weapons in the films, could have a weapon mod system. Would have been interesting. Just keep Dracula out of it, unless it had a Castlevania cross-over.

[673f215c9af3afox]

RPS: "WolfEye's new first-person RPG is "an evolution" of Prey and Dishonored featuring mechs, magnets and a continuous world"

Here's hoping.

[673f215c9b057ZylonBane]

"And grimy, unlikable characters who do nothing but smoke cigarettes and record unflattering audio logs about their coworkers."

[673f215c9b392sarge945]

I just hope it doesn't contain the quippy *lip-smack* ayooo dialogue of Deathloop.

Quips were somewhat annoying but at least novel when the original Borderlands came out. But now that Marvel has been pushing that type of dialogue for almost 2 decades, and more and more games are embracing it, it just feels lazy and annoying.