The video game industry has reacted with shock and anger after Xbox shut down several game studios today, May 7, 2024 including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, the developers of Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush respectively.
That is not what happened here. I am saying: buying a studio and saying whoops you don’t exist anymore should not happen. You are saying: but it does. Because copyright? Even for shit that’s not out yet. A bunch of these closures involve killing unreleased projects, which are obviously never going to go anywhere in the hands of whichever robots own them. Tell me their ownership matters and you will see what backlash looks like.
Thanks for explaining. I was not arguing the point that closures happen, just expanding on why it’s not easy for the studios to get back on their feet again as independents.
There will likely be non-disclosure agreements, non-competes or simply IP rights to take into consideration if we want to argue why these studios can’t continue their work. In the end it comes down to legal stuff and money. The IP rights even for unreleased products very likely are with the parent corporation. The same goes for the codebase.
So yeah. The studios are left with nothing, except a severance pay if they’re lucky.
That is not what happened here. I am saying: buying a studio and saying whoops you don’t exist anymore should not happen. You are saying: but it does. Because copyright? Even for shit that’s not out yet. A bunch of these closures involve killing unreleased projects, which are obviously never going to go anywhere in the hands of whichever robots own them. Tell me their ownership matters and you will see what backlash looks like.
Thanks for explaining. I was not arguing the point that closures happen, just expanding on why it’s not easy for the studios to get back on their feet again as independents.
There will likely be non-disclosure agreements, non-competes or simply IP rights to take into consideration if we want to argue why these studios can’t continue their work. In the end it comes down to legal stuff and money. The IP rights even for unreleased products very likely are with the parent corporation. The same goes for the codebase.
So yeah. The studios are left with nothing, except a severance pay if they’re lucky.
Normative statements are a novel concept to some people.
Pointing to all that and going AND THAT’S HORSESHIT is not a factual argument - it’s a moral judgement.
I’m not saying it’s untrue. I’m saying it’s unacceptable.
In short:
Fuck.
That.
Well, you can only win against big corpo if you shoot them with their own guns.
Or literal guns.