Xbox shuts slew of Bethesda studios, including Redfall, Hi-Fi Rush developers

Xbox has today announced stunning cuts and studio closures affecting a slew of development houses under the Bethesda banner.

Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin will close, and its online co-op vampire game will not be updated further.

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks will close. Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Studios will close, with its game switched off on 7th August.

Roundhouse Studios, born from the ashes of Human Head Studios, will meanwhile be merged with The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios.

In addition to the losses associated with the above four studios, other jobs will go at Bethesda’s publishing and corporate teams.

The news was broken by an email from head of Xbox game studios Matt Booty sent to staff this morning, as first reported by IGN.

“Today it was announced that Tango Gameworks will close,” a notice posted to the studio’s X account confirmed. “Thank you to everyone that explored the worlds we created. Hi-Fi Rush along with Tango’s previous titles will remain available and playable everywhere they are today.”

A similar notice posted to Arkane Studios’ X account confirmed Arkane Austin’s closure, and the end of all development on Redfall.

“To everyone that has supported the work from our Austin studio over the years, thank you. Thank you for spending time in our worlds and making them your own.”

There’s an additional issue here in that Redfall owners who purchased the Hero Pass or premium Bite Back upgrade are still awaiting content they paid for, more than a year on. These players will “be eligible to receive the value of the upgrade”, the studio wrote, with a website link now available through which to apply.

“These changes are grounded in prioritising high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades,” Microsoft’s Matt Booty reportedly wrote, explaining the closures.

“To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us.”

Booty continued by saying the changes were “not a reflection of the creativity and skill” of staff at the now-closed studios, but that the company wanted “to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games”.

“Bethesda remains one of the key pillars of Xbox with a strong portfolio of amazing games and thriving communities,” Booty concluded, pointing to the upcoming launches of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and updates for existing games such as Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online, plus Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion, as Bethesda continues to try and improve that game’s fortunes.

Microsoft bought Bethesda for $7.5bn in 2020. As of today, the company now consists of Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames and ZeniMax Online Studios.