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‘A f***ing gut stab’: Arkane boss criticises Microsoft execs for studio closures

Miyazaki’s Slave

Miyazaki’s Slave

Gold Member
Hot take...but he might be playing 4d chess here. Understating the landscape for the next two years, seeing that his studio is going to struggle with their current AAA game, he might just be insulating himself and his team.

Be vocal about the firing and stick your neck out far enough to see if it gets a chop.

Either he is cooked and the studio will languish without their leader at which point Microsoft will pull a TangoGame Works on the rest of Arkane.
Or they are safe until more cuts need to be made next year when the Blade reboot fails to perform and the property isn't so hot any more.
 
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Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
Ass of Can Whooping said:
Hoeg embodies corporate cocksucking culture to a T

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What kind of "cuts" are more "devastating" to a studio than being "closed"?

Come On Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
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near

near

Gold Member
GHG said:
Why do the other devs under the Microsoft umbrella matter when you were previously talking about his reputation and the impact that would have on him seeking potential opportunities elsewhere?
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Because you decided to mention the 'wider industry', which was always going to have an opinion on layoffs. You stated he's tweets reflect him well in relation to the industry. Which has nothing to do with the point I made. So I suggested that if you want to measure how well those tweets reflect him within the wider industry, let's see if he's co-workers under the MS umbrella speak out against their own management too. The entire point I'm making is that it is still a bad decision on he's part to condemn he's company and employers. Please keep up with your own arguments, this is taking a tangent.
 
GHG

GHG

Member
near said:
Because you decided to mention the 'wider industry', which was always going to have an opinion on layoffs. You stated he's tweets reflect him well in relation to the industry. Which has nothing to do with the point I made. So I suggested that if you want to measure how well those tweets reflect him within the wider industry, let's see if he's co-workers under the MS umbrella speak out against their own management too. The entire point I'm making is that it is still a bad decision on he's part to condemn he's company and employers. Please keep up with your own arguments, this is taking a tangent.
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I only mentioned the wider industry because you decided to mention his reputation and the impact his tweet would have on any future opportinues should he leave or be let go.

There is nothing wrong or negative about what he's said or how he's gone about doing do. What are they going to do? Fire him as well?
 
Mobilemofo

Mobilemofo

Member
Were not sacking you, we're shutting your studio down, and going forward, you will be de-jobed.

A stab in the gut and a kick in the cock.
 
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J

Joshmyersbv

Member
LRKD said:
In the past 10 years, Arkane has made a grand total of 0 great games. Not at all upset to see them gone, and the idea that they got gut stabbed is laughable. I don't think Microsoft is at all in the wrong for canning them or those other two studios. From the outside Tango Gameworks does seem like a bad choice to lay off atm though, give them at least one more game. But idk maybe there are some huge redflags behind the scenes.
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At the end of the day studios have to make games that sell. Arkane for the most part makes good critically acclaimed games. The problem is not enough people buy them. I mean, what is Microsoft supposed to do, keep giving a studio a budget to make games who historically dont make a profit? It makes zero sense. Bakaba is next on the chopping block if Blade doesn't sell.
 
near

near

Gold Member
GHG said:
I only mentioned the wider industry because you decided to mention his reputation and the impact his tweet would have on any future opportinues should he leave or be let go.

There is nothing wrong or negative about what he's said or how he's gone about doing do. What are they going to do? Fire him as well?
Click to expand...
There is nothing wrong with what he said per se, it isn't ethically or morally wrong to call out your managers. However, because he has an ongoing working relationship with them its not a rational decision to make. Public criticism always feels harsh, even if the criticism is fair and honest, it could easily be said directly to the person you're working with because you already have that established rapport. It burns bridges, and it makes the working environment difficult for co-workers. It's just a rule of thumb in any working environment. Ultimately, nothing may come of this from within MS. But if he has already decided to leave, it still isn't a good look because he's next employer/partner knows that he is capable of publicly ousting them. It's just my take on it, I sympathize with him, but I always feel bad for the whistleblowers and the like because they're ready to end it all for the greater good. :p
 
Mortisfacio

Mortisfacio

Member
The Austin team sucked, though. Do nothing of value, you lead to a closure. They can blame Zenimax for making them make a co-op game in Redfall, but Austin wasn't the same studio that made Prey. Leads devs left (like Raphael) and they were backfilled by DEI devs.
 
Lions Gate

Lions Gate

Member
Topher said:
“YOU SAY WE MAKE YOU PROUD WHEN WE MAKE A GOOD GAME. MAKE US PROUD WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH.”

dinga-1280x640.jpg


Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba has publicly criticised Microsoft executives for their decision to close several studios, including its Austin studio, calling the news “a fucking gut stab”.

On Tuesday, the Xbox maker told staff at four studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, that they are planned for closure. Games boss Matt Booty claimed that some staff would be moved to other teams and others would be laid off.

Bakaba, the creative director of the critically acclaimed Deathloop and currently working on Blade, responded to the news on X with an unusually frank and critical message than we’re used to seeing from somebody running a first-party studio.

“This is absolutely terrible,” he wrote. “Permission to be human: to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.”

He added: “Don’t throw us into gold fever gambits, don’t use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don’t make our work environments darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.

Chqjoq4.png


“For now, great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it’s a fucking gut stab. Lyon is safe, but please be tactful and discerning about all this, and respect affected folks’ voice and leave it room to be heard, it’s their story to tell, their feelings to express.”

Arkane Austin is planned to close alongside Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, Elder Scrolls Online co-developer Roundhouse, and Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog.

The Austin team, which was initally set up in 2006, worked on the first Dishonored alongside other Arkane teams, before developing the 2017 version of Prey on its own.

Most recently, the studio was responsible for Redfall, which was released in 2023 to technical issues and an underwhelming critical reception (the game currently has a Metacritic score of 56).

Its closure means that planned ‘Hero Pass’ DLC for the game, which had remained in development despite the game’s bad launch, has now been cancelled, with all development on the game now ended.

Players who had previously pre-ordered the game and were expecting to get the Hero Pass as part of their order will now be getting “make-good offers” instead, according to Xbox.

The news of the studio closures follows confirmation earlier this year that 1,900 staff would be laid off across Activision Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox.

According to head of gaming Phil Spencer at the time, the decision had been made after Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s leadership teams “set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth”.

www.videogameschronicle.com

‘A f***ing gut stab’: Arkane boss criticises Microsoft execs for studio closures | VGC

“You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough.”…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

Arkane Lyon Game Director calling out Microsoft.

Matthew Broderick GIF
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still deathloop is one of the most overrated boring ass game of all time
 
LostDonkey

LostDonkey

Member
It's no loss imho, and it is my opinion that they've never made a decent game yet.

If you think their games are top tier then great but everyone that I've played has been absolute pig wank. Redfall was the straw that broke the camels back.
 
Danjin44

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Hollowpoint5557 said:
Make better games. 🤷‍♂️
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Hollowpoint5557 said:
Cool, 1 game with limited market appeal. That sure showed me. 👍
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That logic doesn't work because you see crappy ass games like this that sells tones of copy.
zT2Irtn.png


Is it because game is good? NOPE it because it has mass appeal and thats it.

By your logic only mainstream games with zero creativity need to exist in order to make money.....Fuck creativity right?
 
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Hero of Spielberg

Hero of Spielberg

Member
‘… your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.”

Thing is, they weren’t creating value for anyone.
 
JerryinSoCal

JerryinSoCal

Member
Punished Miku said:
Halo Infinite is good. I think they needed to give up on their engine though, and it sounds like they have. The main thing they failed on was the GAAS portion, and we've seen even the best studios in the world fail at that - like Naughty Dog and Rocksteady. And 343 mans one of MS's most valuable IP. There's lots of differences.
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The single player portion sucks, the gameplay is good but the actual story and the "open world" are awful.
 
Redneckerz

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Men_in_Boxes said:
Dinga Bakaba literally wants other men to take care of him. In reality, Dinga Bakaba should have been taking care of his men.
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What an odd take to make. What do you think he has been doing?

Or do you think sending that honest tweet is all he did in his time at Austin?

Candid response. A bit easy to make after the fact though. Preferred if they said this in the midst of it all (but obviously that's far more risky/fatal). Nevertheless, well yeah. If anything this shows big media corp doesn't care about you if you aren't always pushing upstream.

Can't have bad games or the ability to improve on bad games. Everything needs to be flawless on the first try. Stop being human, i suppose.
Boss Mog said:
Bad studios like Arkane Austin should close. Where you're not trying to make quality games but instead want to use games to push agendas you deserve to crash and burn in my book.
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Because they made so many bad games to deserve the predicament bad studio, amirite.
 
Jigsaah

Jigsaah

Member
I don't understand how we...and I do mean we...the players can surmise and almost foretell coming disaster based on current events and the the people in charge cannot.

When the acquisitions were happening, it started out ok, Xbox was starting to fight back...then got downright exciting when Ninja Theory, a studio all but doomed, was saved by their release of Hellblade and then Microsoft acquiring them.

Then came the buying of publishers...Bethesda and ABK. After Ninja theory I suggested Xbox should chill out, nurture those studios and start making some banger games. Bethesda was more or less a likely choice because of how much they worked with Xbox in the past so I more or less overlooked that, but ABK was thought to be a bridge too far...at least in my opinion.

They became bloated, just like Embracer and the very thing I was worried about is now happening. People who put their faith and trust in Xbox...now being put to slaughter by incompetent leadership.

There was a thread on what grade you would give Phil? I gave him a B. This latest fiasco now drops him to a C. Keep it up Phil.
 
Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Redneckerz said:
What an odd take to make. What do you think he has been doing?
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It's the "I am owed" mentality vs the "I will produce" mentality.

Anyone making yet ANOTHER dud immersive sim today knows the risk. The genre doesn't produce. The mountain has been tapped for all its gold.
 
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