Dishonored and Hi-Fi Rush Sequels Pitched Before Studio Closures

Games

By Lewis Smyth

Published May 9, 2024

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Games

Highlights

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly pitching sequels to Dishonored and Hi-Fi Rush before they were suddenly shut down.
Xbox executives allegedly stated that Redfall's negative response did not contribute to Arkan Austin being shut down.
Fans of these studios were shocked by their closures.

Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to Dishonored and Hi-Fi Rush before Xbox’s sudden closure of their studios on Tuesday. This news comes after learning more details surrounding the shutdown of three ZeniMax Media subsidiary studios, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks prominently among them.

In a townhall on Wednesday, Xbox executives allegedly discussed the reasoning behind the closures, citing the understaffed and overstretched nature of the development teams under the Bethesda Softworks publishing branch. Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Game Studios, purportedly stressed that the critical and commercial failure of Arkane Austin’s bug-addled FPS Redfall did not contribute to the closure of the studio. In fact, both teams were continuing to work on their current titles, and even pitch new ones up until the announcement.

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According to Bloomberg, following the disappointing response to Redfall, Arkane Austin was “looking return to its roots by pitching a new single-player 'immersive sim' game such as a new entry in the Dishonored series.” Meanwhile, Tango Gameworks “was in the process of pitching a sequel” to acclaimed rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush, which garnered plenty of positive critical reception when it first released on Xbox Game Pass back in January 2023.

Since the release of Dishonored in 2012 – a spiritual successor to games like Thief and Deus Ex – Arkane has been an industry leader in the immersive sim genre, following it up with the sequels Dishonored 2 and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. In 2017, Arkane Austin solo developed Prey, a science-fiction immersive sim that pays homage to System Shock and which has earned a cult classic title among fans of the genre.

The Tokyo-based Tango Gameworks rose to fame after the release of its third-person horror title The Evil Within in 2014, soon followed by the critically lauded sequel three years later. Next, the studio released Ghostwire: Tokyo headed by industry titans Shinji Mikami and Ikumi Nakamura, before it released Hi-Fi Rush in 2023.

The Studio Closures Came As a Shock

Fans of these games have awaited news of sequels with bated breath, as one particularly dedicated Prey fan demonstrated. Redfall’s data miners even found evidence that the game was still being worked on mere hours before the studio was shuttered.

With hopes for new Redfall content, pitches for new games, and the desire to hire new talent, all signs point towards the closure of these studios being a sudden and unforeseen shock for the team – a fate, sadly, not all that uncommon for video game development studios.