This week, Microsoft and Bethesda announced that they would be closing down multiple game development studios under their umbrella. These include Alpha Dog Games, maker of Mighty Doom, and Arkane Austin, developer of the disastrous Redfall among others. In the gaming industry, the conventional wisdom has long been held that bad games sink you and great games save you, which would lead many to drawing an unfortunate line between Redfall’s reception and Arkane Austin’s closure — but immediately stops supporting that conclusion when you get to Tango Gameworks.
Founded in 2010 by Shinji Mikami, the studio was largely known for horror games like Evil Within until last year. As part of a shadow drop release, the cool rhythmic action title Hi-Fi Rush garnered critical acclaim from all sides, multiple awards and nominations, and was recently ported to PlayStation 5. Xbox Vice President Aaron Greenberg even said that the game was a “break out hit” in “all key measurements and expectations.” Moreover, they did what critics and fans alike beg studios to do: make something wildly different outside of their comfort zones.
Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.
Despite all that, late at night in Tokyo, the people who made a Game of the Year candidate were informed through an email by Xbox Games Studios head Matt Booty that they were closing the studio.
Hi-Fi Rush was, by Microsoft’s own admission, exactly the kind of game the Redmond giant has been convincing their audience to stick with Game Pass for, which sets unclear goals and expectations from the get-go. What exactly constitutes a success on Game Pass? Hi-Fi Rush topped a whopping 3 million players last year, but that clearly was not enough for the higher ups. The lack of transparency with the general consumer on how games are evaluated internally is understandable, but it
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