A Fond Farewell to Tango Gameworks & Arkane Austin
To the great displeasure of the gaming public at large, Microsoft have announced the closure of renowned studios Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin (also Roundhouse and Alpha Dog Games). These are just the latest casualties of the gaming industry massacre that began in early 2023 and has since shown no signs of slowing down. Between all the studio shutdowns and mass layoffs, at this pace, there’ll be nothing left of the teams that created many titles that we all loved and cherished. If you want a picture of the future, imagine infinite Call of Duties stamping on a human face forever.
Tango Gameworks – Thank You for The Thrills and Chills
Tango Gameworks was a treasure. They came out strong, really strong, with The Evil Within and The Evil Within 2. While I personally wasn’t too fond of them, I had to acknowledge that they were really well-made action horror game. I wouldn’t be surprised if their success (led by Shinji Mikami) was what nudged Capcom to remake Resident Evil 2 the way that they did. Then there was Ghostwhire: Tokyo, which was at least visually fun, even if it didn’t do gangbusters. And it was different and fresh compared to the studios previous output.
The next stylistic pivot they did took the gaming world by storm: Hi-Fi Rush proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that many of us are starving for a tight, game-play driven title that doesn’t take hundreds of hours to beat. Despite the borderline shadow-drop in the dump-month of January, Hi-Fi Rush amassed three million players between direct purchases and Game Pass subscriptions. It’s one of the best games of 2023, proved by its many award nominations and wins. And yet, despite outwardly claiming they’re happy with the results, the game reportedly still wasn’t enough for Microsoft.
So, thank you, Tango. Thank you for trying new things and keeping it fresh. And thank you for the most fun I’ve had with a game in a long, long while. Your legacy will remain.
Arkane Austin – Thank You for Prey
I know, I know, Arkane Austin was responsible for one of the worst games of 2023, Redfall. But before you come at me saying that a studio is only as good as the last game they made, read the previous section and tell me which game was Tango’s unexpected swansong. Redfall was an undeniable disaster, that I cannot deny. They took a shot at a live-service shooter and they missed, hard. We’re not going to get into how much of that was the fault of the higher-ups, because unfortunately, it doesn’t matter anyway.
What I want to celebrate on this sad occasion is one of my favorite games of the past decade, Prey 2017. It did not do super-well sales-wise (though it didn’t tank, either), which is a shame. As far as immersive sims go, it’s one of the best I’ve ever played. The variety of options you have to access different areas and solve puzzles is stunning. I’ll never get over turning into a mug to squeeze through a hole in a window. The story is really great, too. Give it a shot if you haven’t already. Thank you, Arkane Austin, for an amazing experience.
A Rant
What I want to you to remember from all this is that, for the hundredth time, corporations are not on the side of the consumers. They will, with no remorse, cut down the studios you love and pull the plug on games you enjoy if it’s going to satisfy the shareholders. But they’ll turn around and fork over three hundred and seventy-five million dollars to alleged cairn of gallstones wearing a human skin, Bobby Kotick. That kind of money could have kept both Tango and Arkane Austin alive for at least a decade. It’s beyond disgusting. And more cuts are apparently coming.
Another thing I want to stick with you forever and ever is what we lost. For one, we lost two studios making really excellent, smaller-scale games (Redfall excluded). Even ignoring the human suffering this will cause, that’s a huge loss for the gaming industry, especially now that that type of game is on the rise. Games-wise we’ll now probably never see a Hi-Fi Rush 2, and the next Dishonored has become way less likely. And both were reportedly being pitched.
And I never, ever want anyone telling me that Phil Spencer loves games. I never want to hear anyone say that such-and-such corporation cares about gaming. In a world were Matt Booty goes on to say how Xbox needs “smaller games that give us prestige and awards” a day after killing Tango, we cannot afford to turn a blind eye anymore. I can only hope to goodness that all of these developers will re-coalesce into new studios that will offer fresh titles. That (and indie studios, of course) are our only salvation from gaming fully morphing into nothing but corporate slop. Good luck to us all.
