Arkane Founder Says Xbox Shutting Austin Studio Was 'Stupid' And 'Not A Good Decision'

Microsoft controversially closed a bunch of Xbox developers earlier this year, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin - a move that the studio's founder says was "stupid" and "not a good decision".

Speaking in a new interview with PCGamer, WolfEye Studios' Raphael Colantonio — who founded Arkane — made some fairly outspoken comments about how Xbox treated the Bethesda team. Colantonio talked about the talent lost by Microsoft, and how letting them go "to me, was stupid".

"I think if you look a little bit, it's obvious that Arkane Austin was a very special group of people that have made some cool things and that could pull it off again,

Those people together can really make magic. It's not like, 'Doesn't matter, we'll just rehire.' No, try it. That's what big groups do all the time. They try to just hire massively and overpay people to create those magic groups. It doesn't work like this. So to me, that was stupid. But what do I know?"

Some of that special talent included longtime game makers Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare, who helped create the likes of Dishonored and Prey over at Arkane. The studio's Lyon branch is still open mind you, currently working on Marvel's Blade after delivering Deathloop at the start of this generation.

It still stings that Xbox closed down these studios we must admit — which also included Hi-Fi RUSH developer Tango Gameworks — but at least that studio and its IP was subsequently picked up by PUBG publisher Krafton. Here's hoping we hear less of this sort of news from Xbox in future.