Xbox Closes Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and Alpha Dog; Roundhouse to Merge With ZeniMax

Tango Gameworks, Arkane Studios Austin and Alpha Dog Studios have been closed by Microsoft/Xbox. Roundhouse Studios will merge with ZeniMax Online Studios. Microsoft is making these changes to increase investment in other parts and focus on its priority games.

Microsoft has announced changes at Bethesda/ZeniMax to focus more on high impact titles from existing franchises, but new IPs are also conceivable. Arkane Austin will be shut down. Their last project, Redfall, will no longer be developed. The Hero DLC will also no longer be released, but amends have been promised. Alpha Dog Studios will be closed. Mighty Doom's servers will be taken offline on 7 August. Tango Gameworks will be shut down. The Japanese studio was responsible for games such as Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush. The Roundhouse Games team will join ZeniMax Online Studios to work on The Elder Scrolls Online.

"With this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number of positions in select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also be eliminated," wrote Matt Booty, president of game content and studios, in a letter obtained by IGN. It is unclear whether the GSA office in Frankfurt will also be affected.

This is how the Bethesda/ZeniMax studio network will look in the future: Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams.

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