Bullying is a rarity in the Fallout 76 community, but some players are giving Xbox Chief Executive Officer Phil Spencer a special exception following the closure of three Bethesda studios this week.
The Bethesda gaming community found itself rocked by the devastating news of Microsoft closing down Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios, and Arkane Austin as part of its restructuring and reallocation of resources within the Bethesda organization.
The response was immediate - Fallout 76 players have nuked Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s camp in the game.
The symbolism behind the move is clear, as Phil Spencer has reportedly listed Fallout 76 as one of his favorite games. Players are bullying the Xbox chief hoping to keep him out of the game as an expression of their feelings towards the closure of the studios behind Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall.
The sudden closure came amid news that Tango Gameworks, a Japanese company, was pitching a sequel to the award-winning Hi-Fi Rush. Arkane Austin, on the other hand, was reportedly hoping to develop a new Dishonored title or a similar immersive sim game.
Alpha Dog Studios, which maintains the Mighty DOOM mobile adaptation of the DOOM first-person shooter game, also announced just last week that it is bringing a special Vault-Tec Mini Slayer Skin to the game to celebrate the success of the Fallout live-action TV show.
Matt Booty, the chief of Xbox Game Studios, explained that the closures are part of Microsoft’s efforts to reallocate resources so that it can focus on developing “opportunities that are best positioned for success.”
Jill Braff, who heads the Bethesda department within Microsoft, said during a town hall meeting on Wednesday that they found it challenging to support the organization at its current size.
“It’s hard to support nine studios all across the world with a lean central team with an ever-growing plate of things to do,” she reportedly said, adding: “I think we were about to topple over.”