In a big interview with the Strictly Business podcast, head of Xbox Studios Matt Booty talked about shutting studios down.
Booty gave three different categories for the Xbox business after stating that “it is really unique for each game”.
- Blockbuster Titles
- Predictable Revenue Generators
- Unique Games that Show Off Creativity
In the Blockbuster Pillars segment Booty listed:
- Warcraft
- Call of Duty
- Minecraft
In the Predictable Revenue Generators, there were:
- Sea of Thieves
- Forza Horizon
- Elder Scrolls Online
The third category is the smaller, unique titles that “push the art form forward”, including:
- Pentiment
- Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
“Each of those really has unique metrics on how we measure success. For Call of Duty, one of the biggest games on the planet we’re going to have certain targets.” he continued, “That’s going to be different for a team like Ninja Theory who made a game like Hellblade 2 with about a hundred people” – Matt Booty
This led into a discussion about Tango Gameworks, who were shut down not long ago as part of a “consolidation” with the Bethesda arm of Microsoft’s gaming division.
“Any time that we’ve got to do something like that it’s difficult, first and foremost for the people affected. We’ve put a lot of energy into fully supporting anyone that was affected by something like that, through severance and other things. Those decisions are never made lightly, they’re never made quickly. There are a lot of people and processes and oversight to make sure we’re making a good decision there and they’re always difficult. The energy goes into making sure that we’re supporting the people impacted.”
He then refused to go into the nitty-gritty on exactly why the studios were closed “out of respect”. Stating then that:
“It’s as much a forward-looking situation as it is one looking back at one certain game. There are a lot of things that go into success for a game. What leadership to do you have? What creative leadership do you have? Is the team the same team that shipped something successful previously and we have to look at all those things together and ask ourselves are we setup for success going forward”
It sounds like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin may have lost too many employees to keep the faith of the Bethesda and Xbox leadership. What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments below.
