ULTRAKILL studio New Blood Interactive has paid tribute to the studios that closed down a few months ago by Xbox, paying for a very anti-capitalist ad in Times Square. This has been a worrying trend happening over the past few years, as companies keep trying to make more expensive games that don’t guarantee job security.
Stephen Totilo on Twitter showed off the Times Square ad from New Blood, which mourns Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Roll7, Sony’s London Studio, Volition, and everyone who’s been laid off. New Blood CEO Dave Ohsry quote tweeted the post, saying: “I'm always trying to find new and creative ways to waste money. Miss y'all. Hope you land on your feet soon.”
Out of all the studios that New Blood names, Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks are the freshest in most fans’ memories. Xbox shutdown these studios to save money, even though Tango’s Hi-Fi Rush was a critical and commercial success. Ironically, one of the Xbox heads said that they needed more acclaimed games, which Tango and Arkane Austin specialized in.
Volition was also gone too soon, as the company had made a number of acclaimed Saints Row games that were adored by fans. While the recent reboot wasn’t a huge fan-favorite, it was far from a bad game and the company could have improved on this title with a sequel.
Game companies closing down has become surprisingly common these days, which has fans and developers alike incredibly depressed. The fact that games like Hi-Fi Rush can sell well and gain critical acclaim, only to have its studio shutdown just doesn’t seem right. It also didn’t help that Xbox decided to open a new studio after, supposedly to work on their new AAA IP.
Even if the AAA game industry crashes and burns, fans will always have indie companies like New Blood who seem to care about their employees, unlike Xbox. Fans can check out their acclaimed shooter ULTRAKILL on PC today.