Xbox Just Announced The Closure of 4 Studios 

I don't even know what to say.

The Tango Gameworks closure is outrageous.

It’s not about making money, it’s about greed. Greedy executives, greedy shareholders. When these clowns cut costs, they take home huge bonuses, while the staff loses the ability to put food on the table for their families. Shareholders are just as bad. It’s no longer about ROI, it’s about exponential ROI.

it's insane the amount of damage they've done to their brand in 4 months

Sony: “The world hates us over Helldivers 2.” Microsoft: “Hold my beer.”

Starting today, I’m against Xbox buying anyone else. This shows they couldn’t manage what they had, Xbox is too big now. Get your things right before wanting to expanding even mora

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

I have a feeling Undead Labs will be on the chopping block within a few years. The founder left a few years ago and I heard State of Decay 3 is in development hell

It's time for Phil to go... too much nonsense with gamepass, streaming, and playing everywhere... the games are the only thing that matters and phil hasn't delivered.

And just to think……people wanted MS to acquire more. It is fascinating to see how so many people didn’t see this coming.

Tango Gameworks did not deserve the axe 😢

I’m definitely worried about Ninja Theory

And people still think Microsoft don't Embrace, Expand, Extinguish anymore. They have never stopped.

shame to see tango gameworks. loved both hifi rush and ghostwire tokyo. i'm pissed.

Disastrous news in many aspects.

phil and matt gained the biggest Ls of the year

This corporate capitalism is getting stupid now. It's all profits and not originality anymore. Any time anyone takes risks they get shut down.

May 2022 - Redfall and Starfield delayed to 2023 leaving a barren 2022 for Xbox May 2023 - Redfall bombs May 2024 - Studio closures Hard to get excited before a June showcase when you just stomp on any enthusiasm for your brand

And yet, we're all cheering for major publishers acquiring studio's left and right... the entire gaming industry is getting streamlined as a big money industry. No space for creativity, just push what makes big money.. fast.

- Woohoo! Fallout TV Show is a success, when is the next Fallout coming? - Sometime around 2030. - 2030? Are you crazy? we need Fallout 5 next year. - But, but, but we are working on ES6. We don't have more resources. - I don't care, we need another Fallout by next year. Close studios, fire people, I don't care! We need another Fallout with the TV Show Season 2.. End of the Story...

I'm gonna be real, previously I would have described myself as an Xbox fan, but I can't see myself getting behind this brand anymore. You can't blow 70 billion in purchasing Activision only to turn and close down several studios you previously acquired. Looking like it'll be the PC master race for me from here on out.

I’m not surprised didn’t xbox originally only want Bethesda but when zenimax said no they bought them instead

Xbox doesn't shoot itself on the foot. It's literally sawing its legs.

I can understand Arkane Austin but Tango Closure is unacceptable by any sense of logic.

This is what happens when you dont sell games, and invest billions in a short amount of time and see no growth. Phil Spencer didn't make the changes needed back when he was promoted. And that would be because he's never made a game or financially managed a studio project correctly. If you had made games, and saw how disjointed internally the company was when it came to gaming dvision. Then I would raise a red flag and if I had experience shipping games that sold they usually would at least listen. Phil has had none of that, all he did when he was promoted was make cuts back in Xbox one era. He didn't go and check on lion head, and see they had no clue what they were making. If he was a ex-dev he would know what was not working and look at project budget and see that Peter Molonyx was sucking money. Guy closed Lion head, cancelled scalebound, then somehow got MS to spend billions before fixing internal culture problems in how division was run. And that means getting rid of 18 month contractor clause. He would have assessed 343 was having problems. If not him people who were suppose to work under him, which he picks. Sorry Spencer may be a gamer and a good dude. But he seems inept at fixing the issues that have lead to this, and then getting the company to spend 100 billion dollars in the short of a couple years just increased the rate of which this happened. On top of a recession, and tech industry imploding.

Remember when you said Sony needs to get their house in order? Seems more like Microsoft needs to figure out the same thing. Nobody ever claimed Sony was perfect but to lay off 5000+ people over the last year and a bit is insane

Microsoft is winning.....everybody in Destin's circle is saying it.... We can see....... Clear as the Moon.... So much win.... /Sarcasm OFF

with each month, my spite for microsoft increases slightly

It'll be NINJA THEORY next. 8yrs for 8 hours of gameplay Hired 100 more devs and spent millions.

I dont believe anyone who says they canceled their game pass subscription. Especially for the red fall devs , a mobile dev and a company that lost their main creative head in Mikami . And lets be honest. What game were you excited about that these companies were potentially making? It sucks people lost their jobs but thats in every division not just gaming. This once again feel like forced anger/symathy .

There's not much more to say. What is the point? I support them with a GamePass subscription and purchasing titles but see the studios get shut down anwyays regardless of how well their game sold with zero marketing and winning an award. Complete and total failure from everyone at Xbox. Abysmal time to be an Xbox fan.

The Game Pass strategy is destroying the gaming industry.

The Tango Gameworks studio I feel like it’s related to the founder leaving and starting his own studio, something tells me he took quite a bit of talent with him

Prey, Hi fi rush and evil within wiped out

I feel like we're being foolish for believing Phil Spencer, Bond, Booty etc are still in charge of Xbox at this point. There was talk of division during the whole "just 4 games" debacle, I think the MSFT board have been calling all the shots since then tbh.

RIP The Evil Within. The chances of getting a new game was slim but now its ZER0

After this gen, I'm done with Microsoft, I'm so tired of their bullshit. I don't care how good the next xbox is, fuck them.

As an adult, i would have watched a series based off High Fi Rush. The characters and story was that charming. This is what happens when suits only look at $$ signs and not what is true value within their company.

As a Japanese games fan I've dealt with YEARS of being neglected. Phil clearly cares very little about Japan as much as he led us to believe. After this Gen I'm going full PC/Switch. Tired of being treated like a 3rd class citizen.

Again, the amount of people who dismissed all the frustrations many of us had when the news at the beginning of the year broke must feel silly now. That was the smoking gun for many at that point I decided I'm going to get a PS next console generation or I might just finally invest in a PC gaming setup

343 next please

Welcome to corporate, where out-of-touch executives keep making bad decisions and all the workers who knew those decisions were bad from the start get laid-off, while the executives who made the mistakes make millions 🤷‍♂

Not shocking about Redfalls studio Arcane but the studio behind Hi -Fi Rush? That’s shocking

Isn’t this the pro consolidation channel??

Microsoft is ran by suits and not creator's. Microsoft is looking at short term goals and not the long hall.

I feel like something significantly changed with how Microsoft is handling Xbox since the ABK merger. Phil might be in charge but I feel other executives are forcing other decisions like more 3rd party and closing this many studios and layoffs. Incrediblely disappointed as an Xbox fan and video game fan.

I can't understand the closure of Tango Gameworks. It makes no sense to me at all whatsoever especially since one of Microsoft's core focuses was trying to make inroads in Japan. I hope that all the staff that have been affected by the studio closures can either find new jobs or can be integrated into other studios.

I didn't blink an eye with the first layoffs or the 3rd party rumours/news. But closing down Tango Gameworks makes me want to sell my Xbox and just get a Steam Deck and support Valve instead.

Xbox is straight up, the most disapointing gaming company I have ever seen. This is no hyperbole. I have been a fan of Xbox since day 1, got a first Xbox on release date and though they lost me for a bit with the Xbox One announcement, they brought me back in with some really great deals and some solid games shortly after launch.In the last decade however, they have just been posting up failure after failure after failure. They have these phenomenal grand ideas, they make certain moves I love, every time they seem to be on to something, on the right track they go and mess it up. They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity and spoil whatever good momentum they seem to have. I have been let down by Sega, Neo Geo, Nintendo, and other companies at various times in the past, Sega hurt the most, but nobody, NOBODY takes the cake like Microsoft Xbox. These guys are absolutely clueless when it comes to the connection between their products and their consumers. All they think about is the bottom line and that just not how you win consumers over in the entertainment business. They are a masterclass is letting people down. So much talent just flushed down the toilet, I absoltuly hate to see this news. What a waste! I have no faith in these guys anymore, they have beaten it out of me.

There is not a single studio made better by Microsoft buying it. This is just the beginning, what we see here will be replicated at Activition Blizzard and MS Studios, I hate all of this.

If this "e3" isnt amazing, i think im done. I can only take so many L's 😂 Up until TODAY i was ride or die since the first xbox. Now i dont believe a thing they say. Why are they talking about another console and hinting at a handheld? What even is the plan at this point?

I dont think this lies at just the Xbox team. I think Microsoft forced these closures and they had no choice.

They say history repeats itself & I’d say we need a repeat of 1983, the gaming industry needs another crash ASAP.

Ninja Theory is next.

How Xbox still has any fans left BEWILDERS me. Until Phil Spencer is out I have 0 hope for them

Xbox is fast-forwarding towards self destruction. Absolutely unreal. What a shame.

great video as always Destin. Enough is Enough. Sadly, I don't know what we can do. I hope all effected find great homes quickly in the industry.

My gut reaction was "is #downsize Matt Booty trending?" While I guess I could build a financial argument for each studio, when I saw Tango Gameworks I thought - is it April fools? I think though that Xbox has had a content / number of quality games problem, and the fix is studios. The fix isn't cut cost by reducing studios. The fix is offering something different and engaging to ensure quality. I have almost no interest in Call of Duty (which I know puts me in the minority) and most of the Activision stuff but was interested in if they would do something cool with the Sierra stuff they inherited or the old Blizzard content. I worry it's a signal that hoping that they do interesting things is over. Just pump out new God of Wars (Doom), Spidermans (I guess Indiana Jones, only will have less success...), etc. The way you win isn't by chasing the same thing that someone else is. Be different. Its why companies fail when throw money after crypto, live service, or whatever the fad is. A few things succeed early because they are different and then they shrug off the copycats. Nintendo wins partially because it just does its own thing. Even after it loses with something like the Wii-U, it still just does something different. Microsoft seems to have decided to double-down on their current market leaders. The problem with that is, things grow stale. They need a balance. They need established IPs but also need to take risks on new ideas that can replace those when interest fades or take risks and re-invent like Breath of the Wild. There has to be creative risk to remain relevant. Some risks will fail. The response needs to be like Nintendo - "ok, let's try something different." If you punish the risk takers, in the future the company will wither. It needs people unafraid to take a risk to remain relevant in 10 years, in 20 years. Blockbuster could have bought Netflix. It didn't. Companies that have blinders on and focus too much on what they have miss out on the future. The decision on how to market and distribute is Microsoft's. If Hi-Fi Rush failed that's on them. Even after Tango's founder left.. Japan has a lot of people, surely someone could have stepped in. Feels petty. I get it that Hi-Fi was a smaller subset of the team so I could see a likelihood that over-all cost of goods sold did not do well while the majority of the main team worked on whatever they had, but they need a foothold in Japan and Tango has offered something unique from other MS properties. Invest / turn it around / lead.

Arkane? Seriously? wtf. Edit - oh, Arkane Austin. Ok. That makes sense.

Destin you've always got the good takes man. Tango was a studio that had so much potential. We've got to call out the bad leadership - things must change!

It sad but we about to witness a video game crashes

I've been telling these over the past few months.... What are the actual good and benefits from this Microsoft acquisitions honestly??

Phil Spencer and Matt Booty need to go yesterday.

Started off this console gen with excitement and the belief that Xbox could reclaim its former glory... and nowadays theres literally nothing but disappointment coming from the company/platform. Broken games, half-baked games (Halo, Starfield, etc.), delays, studio closures, exclusives going to other platforms, etc. The brand is honestly a joke rn

Tango Gameworks closure is a typical Sataya Nadella move. Xbox ain't gonna ever get a foot hold in Japan so it's closed. It's sad. Specially after the hard work Phil did to get support from Sega, Atlus & recently Square Enix. Why they never sold the studio instead?

All of this happens two weeks before Hellblade 2 and roughly a month before the big June event. How can Microsoft and Xbox even pretend that everything is sunshine and rainbows when the nukes that went off in Fallout are a more realistic situation?!

Can we fire phil at this point?

The recent acquisition made by Microsoft last year has led to this recent round of studio closures and layoffs. It was a simple and uncaring business decision. We (gamers) made a mistake supporting the recent acquisition - I believe last year, they spent 75 billion to buy Activision. This is entirely predictable.... industry consolidation in a period of decline of the gaming business.

5:14 Destin this is not true. Tameem left almost 3 years ago. Maybe you missed it or misinterpreted it.

Maybe if xbox owners bought more games, these studios would be open.

Wtf?? TANGO? Hi Fi Rush was an absolute banger! They don't deserve this. Wtf Xbox?

Whatever goodwill xbox has built since the xbox one launch is pretty much depleted at this point 😑

"Day 1 on GamePass" has failed. We need to BUY our games if we want them to succeed. At launch price.

12:07 Nintendo only laid off testers because they're in a lull period right before launching a new console and don't have much first party games coming out for the foreseeable future, and they probably hired a tonne of testers for Tears of the Kingdom that are not needed anymore. In 2013 in the midst of the Wii U fiasco Nintendo's CEO took a pay cut in order to avoid lay offs. We're not exactly talking about the same corporate culture.

How will this affect LeBron James legacy? 🤔

Great, 75€ spent on Redfall + DLC down the toilet. I was really hoping for a comeback like Cyberpunk. This just show the greed of the industry that doesn't give a rats ass about us.

This is the worst generation of gaming no platform has any games instead they all have endless layoffs I’m done with gaming because there’s nothing to play that’s next gen only and actually works and is worth 70 dollars no instead these companies spend more time laying off everyone

We heard you. - Phil Spencer

They only need ninja theory until the ps5 port is done..just like with Hifi.

I don't understand closing Tango. The others make sense to me, but Tango had successful games and Hi-Fi Rush was a surprise hit that really brought a lot of people into the gamepass ecosystem. The ONLY way that can make any sense is if they had nothing planned for the future. EDIT: I should also mention that if this was Matt Booty's decision (and not Phil Spenser's), he needs to read the room. People are sick and tired of big budget "AAA" flops, and no matter how much you TRY, you can still end up with a flop. Microsoft should be diversifying and supporting more low budget indie titles to offset the risk of putting all their eggs in one basket. Sure, TES 6 is almost guaranteed money, and dumping more into it make sense, but what if it fails? Push $200M into a "Creative Engine" garbageware game, and it turns into another Starfield... imagine all the $10M games you could have released and how much money you missed out on. I'm sorry, but the last really spectacular thing Bethesda made was Fallout 3. I said it. You know it's true. New Vegas was Obsidian. FO 4 was good, but not great. FO 76... enough said. Starfield is bland and generic. Skyrim was great, but is anyone from that team left? I doubt it.

Love seeing people throw their temper tantrums though. The fake 'I'm done's. Oh yeah? Are you quitting gaming? Is there a better alternative right now? Did the studio closures somehow effect the quality you were already enjoying with gamepass?

The worst part of this is the fact that IF Fable ever does actually gets released, it's almost a guarantee that it will be a flop.

This is a controlled shutdown of the Xbox console. Microsoft has always historically not been able to run game studios. They built 343 studios from the ground up, and it ended up causing Halo to be released a full year late and had a toxic work environment with high turnover. Plus, in the end, Halo was released unfinished, even after a long delay. And then, when it came to extra downloadable content, instead of adding new gameplay elements that gamers were begging for, gamers got skins so you could see Master Cheif wearing kitten ears or whatever. And now Halo is dead, basically. They bought Rare, and it took ten years to release one halfway decent game with Sea Of Thieves. But even then, that wasn't really finished at launch either. Now, the PlayStation has a complete version right out of the box, and it looks better than the Xbox version. Basically, every studio Microsoft has bought has gone radio silent or has slowed down the volume of games they used to produce. And to top it off, the quality has plummeted on average. The Xbox console is basically dead at this point (Sales have all but dried up), and the Xbox brand is going 3rd party on PC, Switch, and PlayStation. The writing is on the wall.

Microsoft should’ve announced this during the height of the Helldivers 2 controversy. It would’ve been surreal to see two rival companies having headlines dominating the news cycle at the same time for no good reasons.

I don’t understand about tango games it is only Japan studio they had the other studio they used to help the other studios

“There’s not a lot to be excited about with Xbox right now” Yeah, I’m gonna push back on that. Tango was the only promising studio closed of the four.

Got to love that poor decisions and management by C Suite has resulted in devs losing their jobs but not C Suite.

It is common in M&A transactions for job positions to be redundant, which almost always means there will be layoffs. Disney laid off 5000 people when they bought Fox, Att laid off 100k when they bought time Warner. Tmobile laid off 7000k when they got Sprint. The only thing those corporations care about is profits and losses

I loved Hi-Fi Rush soooo much and Evil Within, but sadly, the numbers don't lie. Pre-MS acquisition, Tango Gameworks did not make a lot of money... Usually they release sales figures of a million when they hit that milestone, but none of their games did that. They were really good games too

Xbox will bring down everything. Bethesda needed to stay independent.

This seems like one of those things people might want to think on more before jumping to conclusions and riding the doom and gloom train. It's sucks, but It's well known that a number of Beth Soft studios were underperforming even before they they were bought out by Microsoft(some people who have followed Bethesda Softworks closely for a good while now were growing concerned about the sustainability of a few of these companies a long time ago). I've been reading headlines for years about mediocre sales for a lot of games tbh. Dishonored 2, Prey, Wolfenstein 2, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire Tokyo. Then of course lately you have Shinji Mikami and a lot of his core team leaving Tango(meaning Tango likely wasn't going to be making the kind of games that people want from them anymore), and the disaster that Redfall was. It's not "entirely" surprising. While Beth Soft games have always been well regarded for the most part, with a few exceptions they seem to have consistently failed to gain a wide enough audience and just kind of end up being more niche. I have generally been under the belief that Xbox bought Bethesda first and foremost for ID and Bethesda Game Studios. And if we are being "completely" honest, it was mainly for BGS . It's been pretty clear from day 1 that Phil Spencer and Xbox were heavily in Todd's corner.

This happen as Nintendo's CEO confirms their next console.

Overpaid devs slim margins for profit on shit games what Dyou expect

1. They canceled Blizzcon the first year after they aquire them??? Why would they do that? That sounds like a stupid PR decision. 2. Why would they close Tango? HIGH FI RUSH! It was pure creative fun. Crazy 😢

So, is the acquisition going great for employees as you suggested it would be Destin? 🤔 Is this "GROWING THE BUSINESS" as Phil Spencer suggested that they were trying to do? 🤔 It sounds like Toys4Bob got wind that this was coming & preemptively went independent. That's 5 studios lost and over 2,000 jobs lost since the ABK acquisition. I hope that all those affected can recover. This is exactly what you guys cheered for. Congratulations.

Arcane Austin and Tango Gameworks closer is devastating. I love Tango, Hi-Fi Rush is an awesome new ip. Im baffled at how stupid this is. 😢😢

What happens when you buy 25 studios and that we live in a time where games come out daily, all competing for the same space and your dollars. seeing as how that can't be done and with many of xbox studios not really producing anything worthwhile, doesn't surprise me at all.

Final straw for me. I'm done with xbox.

Gamepass is a curse and a destroyer of art . Making art into a free streaming service is destroying the industry

If I could go back and choose PS5, I would. Still looking forward to Avowed, but Microsoft has proven to be a poor manager, following the wrong incentives.