Arkane Austin, one of two teams that made up Arkane Studios and the primary developers of Prey, was summarily closed by owner, Microsoft, on May 7th, 2024. 96 people were fired.

Prey is a game where everything is not as it seems. Alien mimics have invaded, and you are stuck on a space station where every coffee cup could be a monster. The story twists and turns. It becomes clear that not only must the protagonist, Morgan, remain doubtful of physical reality but also the intentions of those claiming to be Morgan's business partners, family, and friends.

After 18 years of stellar game development, including the Dishonored series, Prey, and Deathloop, one can only imagine the horrible feeling of betrayal 96 Arkane Austin staff members experienced when they were told Microsoft was shutting down their whole studio.

Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, Arkane Studios parent company, in March 2021, for 7.5 billion USD. This grew the Microsoft game studio family considerably. Zenimax Executives had already directed Arkane Austin to begin developing a live service FPS title in 2018, Redfall, a game nobody asked for and something unlike anything Arkane had experience with. Everyone knew this game would flop but Microsoft execs directed development to continue and promised they wouldn't hold this against Arkane Austin. By the time Redfall was released on May 2, 2023 nearly 70% of the Austin team that worked on Prey was gone, many leaving because they simply didn't want to work on Redfall. Redfall was a flop. A year later, despite Microsoft's assurances, Arkane Austin is gone.

The Microsoft acquisition of Arkane seemed like a good thing. Microsoft's intention seemed to be to continue creating quality games for decades to come. To Arkane Austin, Microsoft's promise to not hold Redfall's performance against them seemed genuine.

But everything is not as it seems and we must remain doubtful of not only our physical reality but also the intentions of those claiming to be our business partners, family, and friends. Monsters are hiding among us, and to find them look no further than the Microsoft board room.