Viral $10,000+ Summer Game Fest billboard paying respects to fallen Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall studios nearly put Xbox boss Phil Spencer on blast, but "it's about the people, our friends who got laid off"

A billboard paying tribute to shuttered game studios and "everyone laid off" was placed right outside one of the most popular hotels around Summer Game Fest, after the CEO of game publisher New Blood Interactive decided it'd be "way cooler than just throwing up an ad for one of our games."

The billboard in question has been going viral on Twitter after it was spotted by Game File journalist Stephen Totilo yesterday. It shows a short looping message, reading "gone but not forgotten," and listing Arkane Austin, Roll7, Tango Gameworks, Volition Inc, London Studio, and "everyone laid off, downsized, and 'made redundant.'" It continues: "Thank you for great games from your friends at New Blood. We love you. We miss you. We hate money." 

Speaking to Totilo in a Game File interview, Dave Oshry, the CEO of New Blood Interactive, speaks about the decision to pay for the five-figure billboard, which sits outside the JW Marriott in Los Angeles in a spot where "people are going to see." He explains that while the publisher had first considered placing an ad for the crime noir FPS Fallen Aces, the staff at New Blood realized that "industry people are gonna see this billboard" and, therefore, wanted to do something to acknowledge the brutal string of games industry layoffs and those affected by them.

They'd originally considered something a bit more confrontational, with Oshry recalling: "People started suggesting, 'You should take shots at the execs. Put a picture of Phil Spencer up there and be like, 'Hey man, what the fuck?'" However, they soon realized that this wasn't the message they wanted to send.

"I was like, 'Wait a second. Sure, that would probably get us a lot of publicity. And it would be funny. But why would we make it about them? It's not about them,'" Oshry explains. "'It's about the people, our friends that got laid off. Let's do a tribute to all our friends at studios that got laid off.'"

In the interview, it's also revealed that New Blood had first "wanted to do all the studios," but "you can't fit them on a billboard," which in itself is telling of how badly the industry has been ravaged by shutdowns and layoffs. 

Oshry adds that he doesn't know if the billboard is "cost-effective," but ultimately, "If you can take the biggest canvas, you can make that a tribute to your friends. I think that's way cooler than just throwing up an ad for one of our games."

Microsoft confirmed it was shutting down Redfall studio Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks just last month. Last year, Xbox's vice president of games marketing, Aaron Greenberg, said Hi-Fi Rush had been "a breakout hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations," and that the company "couldn’t be happier" with what Tango Gameworks achieved, so it was quite a shock to see it get closed down so soon after. Resident Evil's creator and the founder of Tango, Shinji Mikami, called the news "sad."

Last month also saw industry anger over GTA 6 publisher's closure of two acclaimed studios.