Microsoft shuts down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios

After Microsoft's confirmation on Tuesday of closing three ZeniMax teams: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Studios, the decision drew strong reactions from the gaming world.

Matt Booty, president of Microsoft's Game Content and Studios, revealed the decision to the employees in an email. Though some of them will transition to other teams under ZeniMax's purview, most will be cut.

As a result, the development of Arkane Austin's video game Redfall has stopped. Consumers of the game's Bite Back edition ($100) will be eligible for a partial refund since they will never receive the game's downloadable content. The update to the game released in November 2023 was the last. Arkane Studios posted on X that "Redfall's servers will remain online for players to enjoy."

Redfall is a first-person shooter game developed by Arkane Austin, published by Bethesda Softworks and released for Windows and Xbox Series X/S on May 2, 2023. It was included in Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service as part of Xbox offered by Microsoft Gaming, on a series of platforms, including Windows and Xbox Series X/S.

Arkane Austin was also the developer of the first-person shooter game Prey in 2017 on PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One. Tango was home to The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush. Alpha Dog was responsible for Mighty Doom.

"Now, it's time to acknowledge that Xbox boss Phil Spencer is making bad decisions," read an article headlined "It's Time To Stop Giving Xbox Boss Phil Spencer A Pass," published on the video game website and blog Kotaku.

"I just want to say that I love all the people at Arkane Austin so much. Great times, hard times, we went through so much, together. Of course, today's news is terrible, for all of us. Your talent will lift you up, and I will do anything I can to help," Harvey Smith, studio director of Redfall, posted on X.

"So this is how it ends… Unfortunately I don't quite have the words… But at least thank you to everyone who supported us," Tango's creative director, John Johanas, wrote in his post.

"Tango closed. Sad," Shinji Mikami, founder of the studio and creator of the long-time classic horror game series Resident Evil, posted on X. He parted ways with Tango in 2023.

Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard Entertainment, defended Spencer, who has been under a lot of criticism for the decision.

"I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements," Ybarra wrote on X. "I get it. But knowing him as a human, I know this hurts him as much as anyone else. I can't speak for all of the leadership there, but I do know him and I do know what he is likely going through."

"…I 100% understand the anger and confusion, and I feel deeply sorry for those teams impacted today and over the last few months. I didn't agree with every decision he made at Xbox, and I think that was pretty clear, but I do believe in his product leadership and I know how hard these decisions can be," Ybarra added.