Final Words From Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush Devs. After 2559 Days, Players Lost Hope for Prey 2 Announcement
Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks said goodbye to the studios after they were shut down by Microsoft. In turn, fans began to accept that Prey 2 will never be developed.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it is shutting down Arkane Austin (known for Prey and Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo, The Evil Within series), and Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom). Now, online comments have surfaced from the creative directors of the initial two teams.
Harvey Smith of Arkane Austin stated:
I just want to say that I love all the people at Arkane Austin so much. Great times, hard times, we went through so much, together. Of course, today's news is terrible, for all of us. Your talent will lift you up, and I will do anything I can to help.
In turn, John Johanas from Tango Gameworks commented:
So this is how it ends...
Unfortunately I don't quite have the words...
But at least thank you to everyone who supported us.
What about the DLC for Redfall?
Before the premiere, Microsoft promised DLCs with new characters for Redfall, which were also included in the Premium edition. Now we know that these expansions will never appear. The publisher has announced that those who bought more expensive editions will receive compensation. However, we don't know any details yet.
End of dreams about Prey 2
The fan profile Prey2Countdown's comment on X (formerly Twitter) is also disheartening. This account, in a light-hearted manner, posted a daily message responding to the question "Has Prey 2 been announced yet?" along with the count of days since the first entry. Yesterday, only the message "It's the end. (Day 2559)." appeared there instead. After Microsoft's decision yesterday, the chances of announcing a sequel practically dropped to zero, even though they were always slim.
In turn, Lukasz Hacura, the CEO of the Polish studio Anshar, can't believe that Microsoft closed Tango Gameworks, because all four games of the team had a "very positive" reception on Steam. It's difficult to understand the situation of closing studies with such achievements.
It's worth mentioning that there have been rumors suggesting that one of the reasons for the studio's closure was the significant number of staff members who recently moved to Kamuy, the new studio founded by Shinji Mikami, the creator of Tango Gameworks, who left the company last year. However, the sources of this information are completely unverified, so it's hard to assess their accuracy.
