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”

The tribute is “way cooler than just throwing up an ad for one of our games,” says the CEO of the publisher behind it

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

A billboard paying tribute to shuttered game studios and “everyone laid off” was placed right outside one of the most popular hotels aroundSummer 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 listingArkane Austin, Roll7,Tango Gameworks,VolitionInc,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.”

“We love you. We miss you. We hate money.”An electronic billboard from New Blood Interactive in downtown LA mourns the closure of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Roll7, Sony’s London Studio, Volition and more “Gone but not forgotten” pic.twitter.com/1zCeD4KEEwJune 7, 2024

Speaking to Totilo in aGame 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 ofPhil Spencerup 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.”

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Microsoftconfirmed 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, saidHi-Fi Rush had been “a breakout hitfor 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 sawindustry anger over GTA 6 publisher’s closure of two acclaimed studios.

I’m one of GamesRadar+’s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield’s student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming’s news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you’re sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

Monster Hunter Wilds players use the beta character creator to recreate their hunters from Monster Hunter World, aged for good measure, and also their real cats

Bethesda’s Todd Howard told Troy Baker he didn’t want him to star in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but after “a blind taste test, people chose you every time”

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered’s $10 upgrade fee would’ve been a lot easier to swallow if Sony had just showed this 9-second comparison clip in the first place