WTF!? Xbox SHUTS DOWN AAA Studios Bethesda Arkane TangoGameWorks and more!  

Any time Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, or Matt Booty speak in front of a live audience they NEED to be booed off stage.

Weird how like 6 months ago you wanted Xbox to keep buying! You were so happy they bought Zenimax and ABK. Where are the games that showed the benefit of those purchases? Didn’t Phil say the put HI-FI on other consoles to see about continuing to support them and making a sequel back in Feb and now magically 2 months later Tango is shutdown. Also where is the Switch port for HI-FI? Will Switch even get it?

It’s kind of hard to be a Xbox fan lately…

Yet another proof that these companies should not be trusted. And there are people who fight over them, what crazy people

every 3 months a first party game my ass

@colteastwood - this is as much your fault as it is Phil Spencer's. For month's you have been making videos championing everything Microsoft has been doing, not giving a critical eye to the negative impacts of Phil's decisions (aka Game Pass is the future of gaming / Xbox buying up every studio). You perpetually disregard anything worth criticizing about Xbox, which in turn allows people like Phil Spencer to not be held accountable, and that is why we are now potentially witnessing the destruction of Xbox. So many people have cautioned you time after time for using circular logic in your videos to justify things Xbox has been doing that not healthy for the industry as a whole or for Xbox gamers, but yet you refuse to take off the rosey colored glasses and acknowledge some of these concerns. You and the rest of the Xbox pundits are as much to blame for this and I hope this encourages you all to think more criticality about Phil Spencer's CEO spin talk and to start questioning what is really going on with Xbox, so you stop acting surprised when things like this continue to happen.

Closing Tango Gameworks is a real head scratcher.

~Perfect example of GREED....just the people up top trying to protect their wallets~

I gotta be done with Xbox at this point. Been holding on for years. It’s just not happening. There is not gonna be an amazing turnaround

Tango Gameworks should not have been axed

Playstation users are just as mad to see other studios being chopped 😡

Jim Ryan was right. Gamepass is unsustainable

Now more than ever before it’s making Microsoft look more like current day Disney: “Acquire then Flat-Tire” their studios.

Pete Hines and Shinji Makami leaving now make so much more sense

Instead closing those studios they should already fired Phil Spencer! More than 10 years of incompetence how the heck he still have a job???!

You can’t just throw a studio under the bus because of a stinker game. Now if it’s three stinkers in a row we have a problem. But the team behind Red Fall was basically told to make a hollow cash grab game, that’s why many left the project and why the game was bad. The problem is the leadership at Xbox for not helping to lead their studios and their out of touch approach to what gamers want. If they haven’t delivered consistently good games within 11 years, I don’t think ABK will solve the problem.

Colt, the AAA gaming issues that are out there are xbox problems. PlayStation & Nintnedo are doing just fine.

This is the main reason why independent developers are so important. If they don´t take corporate money and keeping it to themselves that indie devs don´t have to worry about consolidation and censorship from these companies. Xbox will put their games on other platforms including competing consoles as PlayStation and Nintendo. Sony will do the same with PC.

It is sad for Tango Games, they made interesting stuff. But the lead funder (resident evil creator) left at the time of HifiRush so maybe it is related. The other studios however... Not really a surprise.

Under Phil Spencers leadership, few games have been released, but many people have been laid off...why does he always get a pass? In his 10 years what has he done? Then to release and promote the new fire controller, feel the burn? After telling all of those people they lost theyre jobs, they couldnt wait a week? No awareness, phil is a suit through and through, but wears jeans and a tshirt to make the fans believe he is one of them

They literally closed the only studio responsible for the only 2 games I like from their portfolio, tango. Seriously, fuck off. Reopen it now!

FIRE PHIL SPENCER! LOL Y IS IT SO HARD FOR YALL TO SEE THAT HE'S THE SITH LORD YALL WAS LOOKING FOR! - This is the guy to let 343 destroy halo for a DECADE STRIAGHT - This is the guy who has been authorizing all these horrible modern games year after year - This is the guy who is literally killing the soul/intergrity/og vision of xbox CONSOLES by turning it into some low-end wanna be pc gaming machine that u plug some mouse/keyboard into. - This is the guy who is forcing cross play with PC people and now console ppl must suffer the problems of dealing with pc cheaters. - This is the guy who looked at halo 4 and said "yeah lets release it" - This is the same sorry guy who always lie - This is the same sorry guy who always have a sorry atitude when on camera. - This is the guy who F up the xbox console/aliened the og xbox vision sooo bad...ppl are literally saying "you dont need an xbox anymore bro" - This is the guy who said "good games dont work" LOLOLOL Phil spencer is just like 343. They where both in the background during the golden days of gaming but HAD NO CONTROL. Its not until they got control.....they started F-ing things up. Im telling u. 2012 is the start when all this modern nonsense started to really take affect. it just got worse year after year.

Xbox and PlayStation gamers i would say to you, Choose PC and be done with these companies.

This is why I was never a huge fan of Xbox just buying a bunch of studios. They don’t even care for them…

Can’t wait to see the next game showcase now after this news.

Idek what to say about Xbox anymore except that 2024 is the polar opposite of what should have been for Xbox. There's no way to soften this blow. Microsoft is has ripped the heart out of Xbox and its fanbase. Screw greed.

Slowly but certainly gaming is dying for me.

Maybe they need to stop marketing game pass as a priority and do what PlayStation do put the games first then ps plus second

Saturo Iwata took a PAYCUT when the WiiU failed. Switch went on to crush. Xbox terminates its best developer and spends millions on legal fees to spend billions to buy another dev when they can't manage the devs they have.

It is sad to know that the studios were shut down but i feel that this wont be the last that we hear about this in the industry....

5:40 "lose"? They shut them. They didn't misplace the studio. The studio didn't run away bro 😅

Honestly, the studio closures, the layoffs and general state of the industry right now is sad. I was / am a big fan of Evil Within, Prey and a number of other games these studios were responsible for and frankly it's just left me feeling rather 'meh' about things.

I'm just happy I got my PS5 tbh. It seems everytime we hear about Xbox, it's only for companies being closed, layoffs and bad news..

We're almost 4 years into this console generation and I'm not sure there's really 5 games that make it worth it.

Yo Colt. I've been to Xbox fan about as long as you have, maybe not as fanatically. That being said, they're not really doing us any favors these days and when they close down the studio they gave them their best exclusive title that they've had this generation, their priorities are obviously not in our interests. They're just another money grubbing corporation that's following trends that's all and I'm not going to be donating to them any longer, if they keep this up

no the big wigs gotta start taking pay cuts

I never thought that Xbox could piss everyone off even the PlayStation fanboys are pissed that these studios were closed

Never played any of games from those studios but seem to ignore the fact of current times. Times are tough at the moment. Consumers are spending less or cutting back. Post COVID. We know in the tech space demand was high during COVID and in recent times there has been cuts in tech but also a lot of places.

At least Tango may be reborn with Shinji Mikami’s new studio.

Microsoft spending 72 billion on one big studio was a fail in my opinion. Should've used just 2 billion of that and invested in studios you already had.

Tango Gameworks really hurt. I can't believe they are closing that studio. Major mistake!

its a business...

Arkane Studios decided to pander to a group that wasn't going to play or buy the game. Shocking that a diverse team and a DEI dept didn't save the studio.

I am really fed up with Sony and Microsoft and every giant publishers that seem to lost control, totally, in gaming business. Games need fresh ideas, smaller budgets... Back to basics

At this rate, the only way Xbox will ever have a chance in the gaming market is to shut down and try again in a few years. Come back with force and hopefully within 10 years they will have a more meaningful plan, something more than just spending money recklessly with the hopes of stealing customers from PlayStation and Nintendo

As a PC gamer I've been apprehensive about all the studio acquisitions Microsoft has been making for a long time. I had a feeling from the beginning that they would either use it to screw over anybody not on an XBox console, or they would spread themselves too thin and end up doing more harm than good in the long run.

Dont think the Xbox division wanted this, it looks like the big wigs in Microsoft have over ruled them.

It's really sad for Arkane and Tango, Prey, Evil Within, Dishonored where great games but probably the talent who made those games already left..

Gotta suck hard consistently standing behind one brand when it’s let down after let down. Sheesh.

Look at redfall. The premise sounds great. Until you play it. That’s unfortunate. If I do bad at my job, I’ll be replaced, or let go. This is no different.

Ah here we go. The flip flopping starts.

Yup I feeling like canceling my subscription is the best decision right now. If I have to boycott and get others to do the same just to get our voices heard then I will. Hope others do the same. Bs corpo greed

Shameless microsoft killed nokia now xbox and game studios naver buying any microsoft hardware ever

Xbox did not layoff over 13,000 employees. That was Microsoft overall.

Lmao, Colt was one of the biggest supporters of these mergers

Buy studios. Shut down said studios.

Guys I’m sorry, but these companies have underperformed.

Shutting down studios that are trash. They had a chance to deliver a AAA game and they failed. This is a good move 👏

Better to put them onto Fallout 5 title if retained. Or better for Bethesda just to be Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Starfield & old RPG remakes focused. Very small niche's games dont cut mustard to Microsoft & Investors gaming has become very Corporate.

Xbox was doing so well, they just had to wait it out a couple years more and they would have got the growth they needed. Changing plans for the future every couple of months will never end well.

Welp, this isn't good news. Tango did great with Hi Fi Rush and even they got sacked. Folks about to be on edge now...

Just noticed the face on the logo completely changed

AAA games budgets have ballooned out into absurdity, the quality of the story telling and gameplay have become a cash grab if nothing else. Some of these AAA studios and publishes need a slice of humble pie.

Sad to see Tango go. The Evil Within 1 and 2 was my favourite action horror games. Hi-Fi Rush seemed to be more of a passion project for them in line of what Pentiment was, so I can understand that this type of game didn’t sell very well.

That's a real pity. A few years ago I was defending Xbox and felt really confident about its future, but a friend of mine was telling me why he didn't like Microsoft and viewed them as evil. I kept defending them, but now, I really have to eat crow and admit he was right. We have received nothing but bad news from this company for the last couple of years and this really takes the cake. I still love my Xbox Series S, and I'm still looking forward to some games like Avowed, but I don't believe in the long term success of Xbox anymore.

Restructuring is always part of acquisitions. Shuffling employees and streamlining studios. The it's are still theirs. This is over hyped.

I agree with Microsoft decision. These studios done bad games (Redfall) and a very poor porting of Ghostwire Tokio for Xbox Series and that Is what they deserve.

Sad news for all, feel sorry for all who have lost their jobs, hope they find new better paying jobs soon

The closing of Arkane sounds logical (I'd much prefer these people were moved internally than laid off - they've proven capable with previous titles and are valuable assets), let's face how difficult it would have been to market anything coming from the studio that made Redfall. I know the game being bad is on leadership (they were made work on something they weren't really staffed to do), but the fact that their name would forever be associated with that is too much of a burden. As for the others, I really couldn't have seen it coming.

This is exactly what is happening to the entire gaming industry. People are so much more indecisive these days with their precious time. It's the tablets, the smartphones, and the PCs, and TVs, dedicated gaming consoles, the smart watches, and whatever else it out there. The entire entertainment world is too saturated with movies, short clips, VLOGS, social media, TV shows, and video games. This is sink or swim. I don't blame XBOX, nor Microsoft. That's just how business works. Why RU-vidrs think this is the first time that something like this happens, is just silly to me. They own those studios; they can do what they want with them. Michelangelo said it best - “Wise men say, 'Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.”

Shutting down studios that havent made decent games in years? Oh the horror 😂

Are the companies making great games currently? Are they making money or losing? They’re a business at the end of the day. They wouldn’t do this lightly. Why has no one said this?

xbox buys activision/blizzard ~> massive layoffs in blizzard xbox buys bethesda ~> their best studios gets closed after they released best xbox game of the year. at this point, microsoft is like the cancer of gaming industry, going from one company to another and ruining them

Colt let's be honest the whole market is crazy right now but maybe it is time for them to seriously think about being a publisher to all platforms at this point. I would even consider a name change as well honestly for the hardware and studios. Instead of Xbox Studios change to Microsoft Studios, and for the hardware side take the Surface name. It appears that team is working on the hardware anyway. Regardless, I think it is clear to many now no matter how much a company has in financial power it doesn't mean an open checkbook or success. Each division at MS still has to pull their own weight and has financial obligations they need to meet. I still think Game Pass is a solid solution, but they need to find ways to get the numbers up for its success. Perhaps releasing games would help, lol. On the console side, I still think they need to provide a solution for those that don't like other platforms but to me it would depend on the numbers. If the news we are hearing is correct, it is in a big decline right now especially in EU. Whether that is true or not I do not know but I am sure Xbox does. Regardless of any of the things I mentioned, I think it is a sad day. Not only for the gamers that enjoyed those titles but to the many workers at those studios that may no longer have a job. You have to feel sorry for them and their families. Hopefully they will just move to other studios or projects without losing their jobs. Let's just hope everything works out for them. Thanks for the video.

Buying studios just to shutter them. These are indeed the dark ages of gaming....

Imagine making 70 games with a billion-dollar investment in each of them. That's what Xbox could have done for the same price as their Activision purchase.

XBOX wanted the IP's - NOT the studios themselves. This is obvious.

As a core Xbox gamer I think I agree with Colt in terms of ABK. 70 billion could have been better spent boosting their existing studios probably? In terms of past ABK games, well I don’t actually play them lol so in the short term I’ve always wondered what the ABK deal does for the core Xbox gamer?? I don’t play candy crush, Spyro, World of Warcraft, or Call of Duty. I much prefer Bethesda games.

Mean while, Nintendo had an investors phone call/meeting and are shouting success, with the president of the company ssying the next Nintendo system will be announced this fiscal year. Sony and Microsoft are absolute shit lately

Colt it's very sad that these game studios are closing down but I think that gaming is hitting a real rut in that most gaming studios keep making the same games over and over just a different version and none of them have really thought outside the box and just keep following the same cookie cutter formula over and over with few studios doing anything different. This why in my option sales are down on all the machines except maybe the switch because the gaming studios for it are trying to think outside the box. Which brings me to my point I think alot these game studios need to start thinking outside the box and find other ways to make games instead of the same types of games over and over.

Fallout 4 is the hot game right now. A game almost 10 years old. Bridge consoles.

Worried for Ninja Theory, Double fine, Obsidian etc.

I hate that they shut down the japanese studio. I felt Microsoft could have done far more with getting japanese games in their library.

What do you expect there already gave up on the console war at this point at they're not even trying

Unfortunate but people gotta realise that this is eto push their franchise titles (Elder Scrolls, Fallout) out quicker. the closed studios made no money for xbox

YEEEEES BIG W Thank you Papa Phil, O our savior of gaming!

I stopped paying for Gamepass as Microsoft need to focus on more Halo games. Having a game every 10 years is disgusting

Gaming profits are in trouble because of their own shortsighted policies. Our ultra powerful next generation consoles HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY WASTED on HD remasters of games we have already played. The initial premise was okay 10 years ago. But now all we get is remasters. ESG politically correct CRAP has replaced risk taking and originality. When is the last time a game pushed the boundaries of what gaming can be in terms of not just entertainment but art? I still remember how I felt watching some of the in game cutscenes in the original Bioshock being completely IN AWE on my Xbox 360. Or how fresh it felt to use the thumbstick to mix up potions in a circle like a cauldron in Bayonetta?I haven’t felt a moment moment like that in years. That’s what gaming is missing. The early 2000s were full of that energy and gaming studios were practically printing money. Not just Xbox but gaming in general needs to go back to not apologizing for making products that push boundaries instead of making people feel comfortable or playing it safe. I’ll be waiting. Are you up for it? 💪🏿🇺🇸🔥🇺🇸🔥🇺🇸🔥✊🏿

Redfall sucked and has like 50 people playing it at a time, the rest of the studios didn’t make much money on their titles. Even with these 4 shutdowns or absorbtions. They have a ridiculous amount of first party studios. I’m a massive Xbox fan and haven’t heard of prey.. so let’s be honest they didn’t market it enough and not a lot of people who did know about it didn’t care to play it.

Even Arkane Austin was uncalled for I understand redfall but Xbox themselves said it was on them and that the studio should've gotten more support now they're turning around and shafting them. They also said Hi Fi Rush was a success for them in every metric it's all just lies and lies.

So many comments deflecting this to PlayStation when they are having a phenomenal year. As someone on the outside looking in, this is the utmost problem within the general Xbox community, whenever things dont go as planned they blame PlayStation for no reason when Xbox is the only pne who deserves the blame. Its mental gymnastics like this that leads to lack of success for this xbox company.

Not sure what their strategy is, but this was definitely an odd selection of studios. Hopefully they will combine some of the talent within those studios to help bolster another one. Now it all comes down to the games, because after this they better produce results.

Microsoft has failed Xbox and its community and to be frank I don’t think Phil Spencer is running anything anymore it’s Nadella

I just don't understand why you would pay billions for studios only to close them a year later.

I think that Tango couldn't find the proper leadership after those top 2 guys left.

So no new Dishonored and The Evil Within ?!?!? Wtf! Both games are some of the best games !

they surely broke their promise of developer and creativity empowerment.

Pc and handheld pc/mobile are the future. Xbox and PlayStation will just make games for those and bank.

Bring back Peter Moore! 💪 And the original xb360 crew ASAP

Let's be real here. Two of the studios made nothing but commercial flops which matters FAR more than critical reception. One was a mobile studio without a hit under its belt and the others last game was released in 2019. Fake outrage.