Right this moment, someday after Microsoft introduced that it could shut down 4 of its video games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Sport Studios, held a city corridor to debate the division’s future objectives. “We want smaller video games that give us status and awards,” Booty advised staff, in response to inside remarks shared with The Verge.
For some listeners on the decision, it was a stunning aim: Microsoft had simply shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hello-Fi Rush.
Hello-Fi Rush, which was a shock launch final yr, was praised for its innovation and attraction. The rhythm motion sport featured music by The Black Keys and 9 Inch Nails, with an artwork fashion that evoked the hyper-stylized video games of the PS2 period. Simply 4 months after its launch, Hello-Fi Rush hit 3 million gamers. Throughout the 2023–2024 awards season, the sport went on to win a Sport Award, a Sport Builders Alternative award, and a BAFTA.
Whereas Microsoft hasn’t shared gross sales knowledge, it was apparently proud of the sport. When rumors swirled that it wasn’t doing effectively commercially, Aaron Greenberg, vp of Xbox video games advertising and marketing, wrote on X that Hello-Fi Rush “was a get away hit for us and our gamers in all key measurements and expectations.”
By all accounts, together with Microsoft’s personal, Tango Gameworks made successful and one thing wholly not like something it’s made earlier than. Earlier than Hello-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks was recognized completely for its survival horror video games, together with The Evil Inside collection and Ghostwire: Tokyo. In an interview with Kinda Humorous Video games, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke about how essential it was for Xbox to permit studios to make video games exterior their consolation zones.
“I need to give the groups the inventive platform to go and push their means, push their aspirations,” Spencer stated.
Hello-Fi Rush additionally represented Microsoft’s dedication to bringing Japanese exclusives to the console. In an interview with Sport Watch, a Japanese online game media outlet, Spencer praised Hello-Fi Rush for its “top quality” and stated that gamers might “anticipate” to see extra AAA titles from Japan, evoking the times when Misplaced Odyssey and Blue Dragon had been each exclusives on the Xbox 360. “Whereas there are titles we will’t announce but,” Spencer stated within the September 2023 interview, translated by VGC, “we’re presently creating new video games in collaboration with Japanese firms.” It’s value questioning if that’s nonetheless the plan now that Tango is shut down.
Proper now, small single-player video games like Hello-Fi Rush are having an enormous second. Balatro, a poker roguelike made by a single developer, bought over 1 million copies in its first month. Manor Lords, one other solo-dev venture in early entry on Steam, has additionally bought over 1 million copies. Hades 2 simply launched in early entry and doubled its predecessor’s all-time peak participant rely on Steam in a single day. Even the unique Hades is climbing again up the Steam charts, breaking its all-time peak participant rely document simply in the present day nearly 4 years after its preliminary launch.
Whereas we don’t know precisely what gross sales objectives Microsoft had for Hello-Fi Rush, clearly there’s a demonstrated urge for food for this sort of sport, with Tango Gameworks positioned completely to ship it. In actual fact, in response to a report from Bloomberg, Tango Gameworks was within the strategy of pitching a sequel to Hello-Fi Rush earlier than it acquired shut down.
With Hello-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks gave Microsoft simply what Booty says he desires: a small, creatively distinctive, extremely praised, award-winning sport. Booty’s feedback, then, counsel that Xbox’s leaders couldn’t acknowledge what they’d on their palms — or just didn’t know the right way to benefit from the success they had been searching for out.
We reached out to Microsoft for remark.
