Dinga Bakaba, who works at Arkane Lyon, didn’t take kindly to the closure of Arkane Austin (and some others) by Microsoft, which still doesn’t seem to have learned from previous events.

We’ve already reported that Microsoft is shutting down several studios or merging one of the teams involved with another. Except that they include Tango Gameworks, which developed Hi-Fi Rush, perhaps the best Xbox title of 2023 (a Switch port of which is unlikely to be released…), and Arkane Austin, the company behind 2017’s Prey and Redfall. Bakaba (Dishonored 2, Deathloop, and the upcoming Blade game) works at the other Arkane studio and has been very aggressive on Twitter…

“This is absolutely horrible. Permission to be human — to any executive reading this, a friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment and cultural industry, and your job as a company is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you. Don’t throw us into gold fever gambits, don’t use us as straw men for miscalculations/blind spots, don’t turn our work environments into Darwinian jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are hard. We know you can, we’ve seen it. Right now, great teams are disappearing before our eyes again, and it’s a fucking gut punch. Lyon is safe, but please be tactful and discerning about all this, and respect the voice of the people affected and give them space to be heard, it’s their story to tell, their feelings to express,” Bakaba wrote.

This is absolutely terrible. 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.

— Dinga Bakaba 451 (@DBakaba) May 7, 2024

The closure of Arkane Austin has halted development on Redfall, and the remaining content from the Hero Pass will not be coming, so Microsoft will refund all money and the servers will remain online for some time. Deathloop was more successful, but it didn’t sell well either. Will Microsoft follow the example of Activision Blizzard and compare all sales to Call of Duty? If so, what the Redmond company is doing is completely insensitive. According to IGN, Redfall was supposed to get major updates, and Arkane Austin was working on them until the studio closed. The long promised offline mode was supposed to be released in May! New characters were planned for around Halloween (October).

And what about Perfect Dark? It’s being made by the elite (AAAA?) The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics (the latter started helping in 2021), and according to Jeff Grubb it’s been in rough shape for years and hasn’t made much progress since it was announced. If Microsoft doesn’t make a decision here (they would only push Call of Duty), then again, it’s the gamers who will see the damage if some kind of closure is planned here as well.

Interestingly, some people have posted tweets SUPPORTING Microsoft! It’s none other than Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard who left the company in January after the layoffs: “I see a lot of shots at Phil over today’s Xbox announcements, I get it. But knowing him as a person, I know this hurts him as much as anyone. I can’t speak for the entire leadership there, but I know him and I know what he’s probably going through. I’m not trying to defend the decisions. I think we all find ourselves in situations that are difficult and unexpected (I certainly have). That’s part of the job, as well as being responsible for the results. But he’s a good person, and he cares deeply about the creative process and the developers. That’s my first-hand experience, having worked closely with him for 8+ years and known him for 24+.

I 100% understand the anger and confusion, and I am deeply sorry for the teams affected today and over the past few months. I didn’t agree with every decision he made at Xbox, and I think that was pretty clear, but I believe in his product leadership and I know how hard these decisions can be. Xbox could have a very bright future. I hope they are able to realize that and that all the teams have an incredible experience together. It’s certainly a difficult time that requires great clarity on what the plan is and how gamers everywhere can be excited about it,” Ybarra wrote.

I see a lot of shots at Phil over today's Xbox announcements. 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'm not trying to…

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) May 7, 2024

Previously, the closure of Lionhead (founded by Peter Molyneux) also received very negative feedback. Microsoft simply doesn’t understand what’s wrong.

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech, VGC, IGN