LogIn"It’s as much a forward-looking situation as it is one looking back at one certain game."
Tango Gameworks
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Studios, recently talked to Variety in its Strictly Business podcast, sharing some details about development and closing teams. One of the most curious topics of the talk was shutting down Tango Gameworks, the creator of Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within, – a tragic event the industry witnessed last month, which enraged people.
Booty said it was a hard decision, but the company needs to think about the future. It put a lot of energy into fully supporting those affected "through severance and other things." Apparently, there are a lot of people and processes to confirm Microsoft makes the right call and to support the people impacted.
Booty refused to share any "nitty-gritty" details but mentioned that prior success is not the only thing Microsoft looks at when choosing to close down a studio:
"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," he said (via XboxEra.)
He also pointed out that Microsoft allows teams to go independent, as Toys For Bob did after it lost 86 employees and its office.
Tango Gameworks
Other than that, Booty also discussed Sea of Thieves launching on PlayStation 5 and the future of Xbox exclusives.
Listen to the podcast here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.