Summary
It goes without saying that 2023 was areallygood year for game releases, with high-profile acclaimed releases such asMarvel’s Spider-Man 2,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,Alan Wake 2, andBaldur’s Gate 3,to name but a few. While all of these titles were well known and anticipated, one of my favorite games of the year, Tango Gameworks’Hi-Fi Rush,had a stealth drop of a launch back on PC and Xbox in January 2023.
As a horror fan, I was familiar with Tango Gameworks' past work onThe Evil Within,butHi-Fi Rushwas a completely different kind of title for the studio, instead being a vibrant, rhythm-based action game. Its cartoony artstyle and rhythm-focused gameplay evoked memories of games likeJet Set Radio, and the SEGA Dreamcast era.
As is to be expected of a rhythm game, it also boasted a great soundtrack. For example, I’ve grown up listening toNine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, so hearing their work popping up was a highlight for me. Therefore, I very easily dove into it when it appeared on Game Pass, blitzed through its story in a day, and then went back through to access new areas.
Hi-Fi RUSH Review: An Electric Performance
Hi-Fi RUSH is an exciting rhythm-based action game with bundles of heart and thrilling moment to moment combat.
It Was A Shock When Microsoft Announced Tango Gameworks' Closure In May 2024
Especially After Hi-Fi Rush’s Success
It seems like others enjoyedHi-Fi Rushas much as I did, as it received nearly universally high critical acclaim and was nominated for several major awards, winning ones such as the BAFTA for Best Animation and The Game Awards' Best Audio Design. It was even used as one of the games Xbox was trialing a multiplatform release with, launching on PlayStation in March 2024, where it seemed to be equally well received by that community.
The four first-party titles that Xbox launched on other platforms are as follows:
22nd February 2024
19th March 2024
16th April 2024
PS5
30th April 2024
While aNintendo Switch version ofHi-Fi Rushhasn’t been confirmed, it has been rumored to launch on whatever the console’s successor is.
This is why it came as such a shock whenMicrosoft announced it would be closing Tango Gameworks in May 2024alongside fellow ZeniMax-owned studios such asRedfalldeveloper Arkane Austin andMighty Doomdeveloper Alpha Dog Studios. With the state of the games industry currently, it’s depressing to say the news of layoffs rarely comes as a surprise anymore. As per the Game Industry Layoffs tracker onObsidian.md, over 10,000 jobs were lost in 2023, and an additional 11,200 jobs were lost in the first half of 2024 alone, with the figure sitting at 11,540 as of the time of writing.
As with the rest of the corporate world, if a company is underperforming and then gets closed, that’s somewhat expected, but for Microsoft to announce Tango Gameworks' closure off the back of such an acclaimed launch was baffling and led to many voicing their surprise and outrage at the decision. This was made worse whenMicrosoft’s head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, essentially said the company needed more Xbox games likeHi-Fi Rusha day after announcing Tango Gameworks' closure(viaThe Verge).
Hi-Fi Rush Cast: Which Voice Actors Play Which Characters
Tango Gameworks' rhythm-based action title Hi-Fi Rush has amassed an impressive cast of voice actors to bring its charismatic characters to life.
Fortunately, Tango Gameworks Has Been Saved
More Hi-Fi Rush Is On The Way!
[Warning: The following section contains spoilers for the ending ofHi-Fi Rush.]
Unlike the story of many of the recent studio closures, it seems like this one may have a more optimistic ending.PUBGpublisherKraftonhas acquired Tango Gameworks as part of a global expansion, marking its first significant investment in the Japanese video game market.
As a part of this press release, Krafton confirmed that it will “continue developing the Hi-Fi Rush IP” while exploring future projects. It also stated that the publisher “intends to collaborate with Xbox and ZeniMax to ensure a smooth transition and maintain continuity” at Tango Gameworks, and reassured fans thatthere will be no impact on the studio’s existing game catalogofThe Evil Within,The Evil Within 2,Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the originalHi-Fi Rushgame.
Hopefully, this means that theHi-Fi Rushsequel that was reportedly being pitched (viaBloomberg) prior to the initial closure might finally come to fruition. It’s unclear exactly what the sequel would have involved, asHi-Fi Rushended with its protagonist, Chai, fighting and defeating the evil Vandelay Technologies CEO, Kale Vandelay - who exploded, making his return less likely - and his allies managing to shut down SPECTRA, an AI-program that uses the cybernetic implants of Vandelay’s “Project Armstrong” as a means for mind control to encourage more consumerism.
While Kale did have a masterful backup plan with another SPECTRA in waiting and a digital version of himself, this was accidentally unplugged as well, with Chai leaving a note not to touch the plug before leaving. While the ending was incredibly cheerful and humorous, with Chai being happily surrounded by friends and Kale’s plans seemingly scuppered by SCR-UB the cleaning robot’s clumsiness, the fact that a digital version of the CEO technically exists, and it only takes ignoring a sign and plugging the AI system back in, leaves plenty of ways for these threats to return.
It’s clear thatthere’s plenty of potential in theHi-Fi RushIP, even if Kale and Vandelay Technologies don’t make a return.The world and its technologyare clearly big enough that other megacorporations could rise up, and Chai and his friends could step back into action to stop a new threat.
Regardless, the main result here is that those talented developers at Tango Gameworks who madeHi-Fi Rushcan remain employed and have the opportunity to achieve their vision going forward, something that many others aren’t fortunate enough to have. With how bleak so much of the news about the industry seems to be these days with so many layoffs and closures, it is good to see such a win occasionally come through.
