Xbox head Matt Booty has called for his studios to develop "smaller games" that attract "prestige and awards", just a day or so after closing four Xbox studios.
According to The Verge, Xbox recently held a town hall (a sort of internal presentation) during which Booty made the aforementioned comments, which are sure to confuse some considering Xbox's recent moves.
Earlier this week, Microsoft shut down four studios under the Xbox umbrella, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall studio Arkane Austin (but not Arkane Lyon, where Marvel's Blade is currently in the works).
In that light, Booty's comments might seem a touch incongruous, especially given that Hi-Fi Rush, Tango's most recent (and final) game, seems to be exactly the kind of project he wants Xbox to be involved with.
Xbox hasn't disclosed sales numbers for Hi-Fi Rush, nor has it announced player numbers via Game Pass, but the studio has said that the game was a "break out hit", which casts the closure of Tango in a rather confusing light.
Given the failure of Redfall, Arkane Austin's closure is perhaps a little more understandable, but according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Booty also said that game wasn't the reason for Austin's shutdown during the aforementioned town hall.
Schreier also says that Arkane Austin and Tango's closure, as well as the shutdown of Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog and Redfall co-developer Roundhouse, is part of a "cost-cutting initiative" that isn't over yet.
Rather tragically, Schreier also says that Arkane Austin was in the midst of pitching a new immersive sim-style title closer to Prey or Dishonored than Redfall's multiplayer experiment.
Schreier's Bloomberg article also quotes Jill Braff, head of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax, who says that it's "hard to support nine studios" around the world and that ZeniMax was "about to topple over".
In the article, Schreier cites "people familiar" as suggesting that Microsoft's record-breaking Activision Blizzard acquisition has increased scrutiny on Xbox from the company's heads, which could be why the cuts were made.
Still, it does seem odd that Booty would seemingly say Xbox needs games like Hi-Fi Rush just a day or so after the studio responsible for that game was closed. Stay tuned for more on this and all other things Xbox and Microsoft-related.
