Newscast: Is the closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall’s studios a sign the Xbox Game Pass publishing model is failing?

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the future of Xbox after the announcement Microsoft is shutting down a swathe of Bethesda game studios. Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall once seemed primed to benefit from being available via Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s much-touted subscription service often seen as the best reason to own the company’s console. Now, the studios behind both are gone forever.

Last year, Microsoft’s marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg declared Hi-Fi Rush “a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations.” Redfall, meanwhile, despite being less-favorably received, had a multiplayer roadmap and a promise of single-player, with hope the Game Pass audience would still prop it up.

But Microsoft’s reasoning for closing Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – to focus on bigger bets – suggests Game Pass is no longer a place where creativity can reign without fear of being too niche, and where fun-if-a-bit-mid multiplayer games can ‘t be supported long enough to receive updates just days from completion.

So where does this leave Xbox, and Game Pass, and studios like DoubleFine or Ninja Theory still making smaller-sized games? How secure does the team behind Hellblade 2 feel today, even if its game launches and is also dubbed a “break out hit”? I’m joined by Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy to discuss.