PUBG publisher Krafton has sad it didn’t buy Tango Gameworks from Microsoft because it cares about making a profit, with CEO Changhan Kim admitting “we don’t think Hi-Fi Rush 2 is going to make us money.”
Kim told Game Developer that Krafton swooped in to save the studio after Xbox announced its closure because it cares about legacy and allowing creativity to flourish in the video game industry. This comes despite Tango Gameworks, developer of The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo alongside Hi-Fi Rush, not having “big success” with its games.
“We wanted to maintain their legacy,” Kim said. “Although they did not have a big success in their games, we saw many creatives worth pursuing. That’s why we wanted to work with that organization.”
He continued: “We’re trying to increase our portfolio lineup and Tango Gameworks comes into play [there]. We can’t acquire Tango Gameworks based on their financials or their numbers, right? We don’t think Hi-Fi Rush 2 is going to make us money, to be frank.
“But it’s part of our attempt. We have to keep trying in the spirit of challenge taking. Tango Gameworks are creative. They want to try something new, and we want to do more of that. [Making] video games is really a hit or miss industry, and that is risk taking. But having more project lineups is actually a way to mitigate risk, because one of them might work out.”
Kim said that Tango Gamework’s previous games “may not even have broken even” and the deal to acquire the studio was “not too expensive, or cheap either.” Definitive numbers can’t be shared until the deal goes through, but “the dollar amount was not really important to Microsoft,” he said.
Krafton announced its intention to buy Tango Gameworks on August 13, three months after Microsoft announced its closure alongside other studios and lay-offs. Only the Hi-Fi Rush intellectual property was brought over with Tango Gameworks, however.
Kim said this was because it knew Hi-Fi rush was the priority for fans and it didn’t want to add too much to the deal and overcomplicate things. This would cause it to move slowly and add to the stress of already “anxious” employees.
“Because Hi-Fi Rush fans really want to see sequels, we negotiated with Tango Gameworks’ parent company to acquire that IP as well,” he said. “We wanted to make sure the deal happens fast to minimize that gap in [employees’ careers].”
Kim added: “If we were to acquire all IPs, I think it’s going to complicate the deal too much. Krafton is a pretty big company, but Microsoft is very complicated. We wanted to help the team continue developing their games, but especially Hi-Fi Rush. When I think about our fans, I think what they really care about is Hi-Fi Rush sequels.”
Hi-Fi Rush certainly appeared to be a breakout hit for Tango Gameworks, breaking the mold of its horror game roots as a colorful rhythm action game. “Hi-Fi Rush marches to the beat of its own drum with stunning animation, loveable characters, and stylish rhythmic action that are anything but one-note,” IGN said in our 9/10 review.
Microsoft itself said the game was a success too, despite it shadow dropping the game with no marketing. Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg declared the game “was a breakout hit for [Xbox] and [its] players in all key measurements and expectations.” He said Microsoft “couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered” when it hit two million players after a month and received high praise from critics.
But just over a year later the studio was shut down. “So this is how it ends,” wrote Tango Gameworks creative director and Hi-Fi rush director John Johanas on X/Twitter. “Unfortunately I don’t quite have the words. But at least thank you to everyone who supported us.”
Krafton kept the studio alive though, and brought over around 50 of the 100 staff members. It’s unclear why the remaining approximately 50 staff didn’t join Krafton, but it’s possible they had already found jobs elsewhere as the studio’s closure was announced three months earlier.
Kim made clear Krafton had no plans to lower the number of staff, and even suggested an expansion was on the cards.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.