Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge.
For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.
Hi-Fi Rush, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the PS2 era. Just four months after its release, Hi-Fi Rushhit 3 million players. During the 2023–2024 awards season, the game went on to win a Game Award, a Game Developers Choice award, and a BAFTA.
Here, I'll translate - "We need an undervalued and underpaid studio that we own to pop out a viral sensation we can exploit the shit out of, who we will then treat exactly the same. Repeat ad nauseam"
Let it be known, of your company is being bought by big tech, start polishing that resume. You officially have max one year of employment, that's how long it takes for the SEC to back down and not pay much attention. As soon as they're in the clear, you're out.
The reason these companies are successful is anti competitive behavior and money, not genius. Granted, gates did good when he invented a universally adopted OS but since then, they’re just using their power to bully themselves to more money.
They desperately need to be broken up and I wonder when the rest of the world will come to that conclusion. I hope it happens before we get „privatized government“.
People defending megacorporations of any kind should be ashamed of themselves.
Maybe stop hemorrhaging money with GamePass. Like for example is paying Take-Two hundreds of millions to get GTAV on the service really a good investment. They could have funded hundreds of smaller studios with the money they poured into the service to just get a handful of triple A games on it.
Just stop trying to make game subscription service a thing. If it ever becomes successful it will just change the industry for the worse.
You're right but let's be clear here: Microsoft doesn't care if it changes the industry for worse, so the only calculus that matters to the execs is whether it works
I think the elephant in the room with Hi-Fi Rush is the cost of the licensing of the music, and how they have to keep updating that licensing to keep the music. Sure, Hi-Fi Rush already has generic music that can be substituted in for Let's Plays, but it would be a bummer to play this in 10 years and have all the original soundtrack gone. Which is... likely what might happen.
Microsoft wants smaller games that give them prestige and awards that don't come with complicated long-term music licensing issues that are pretty integral to the game itself since it's a... music... game...
Anyway, that's how I read it. A sequel would be just asking for more and new music to be used, creating a long-term licensing nightmare akin to what has happened to the soundtracks of the older Grand Theft Auto games. That seems... ill advised, for a rhythm game series.
Music licensing for games is so dumb. You'd think the studios would remember the Guitar Hero effect, where having your back catalog featured in a game introduces it to a new generation and brings sales and new fans.
If anything, they should pay the devs for the exposure rather than the other way around. It's not like I bought Hi-Fi Rush for the music, but I ended up enjoying and seeking out a few tracks due to it.
I wouldn't be surprised if licensing a song to a video game pays more than the fractions of a cent per stream you get from the bump afterward, and exposure doesn't pay your bills.
The executive leadership needs the small game wins, it doesn't need or value the people who make the small game wins.
Also in large organizations The power politics can actually be more important than the money. The executive who killed the small studio may be a different executive than the one who wants small well received games that build reputation.
It's the reason why Shinji Mikami quit i think, dude just wanna make small non-spoopy game while training the next generation of game dev.
With them axing that many studio and focusing on "high-impact" title, whatever that mean to them, m$ basically squeeze themselves dry without 1st party game to support their console and their own store.
Does Microsoft still own the rights for Hi-Fi Rush or Prey after this? Cuz that would suck. I love those games and I dont think I can take it if they pushed out a half baked sequel...
For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.
When rumors swirled that it wasn’t doing well commercially, Aaron Greenberg, vice president of Xbox games marketing, wrote on X that Hi-Fi Rush “was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations.”
“While there are titles we can’t announce yet,” Spencer said in the September 2023 interview, translated by VGC, “we are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies.” It’s worth wondering if that’s still the plan now that Tango is shut down.
Even the original Hades is climbing back up the Steam charts, breaking its all-time peak player count record just today almost four years after its initial release.
While we don’t know exactly what sales goals Microsoft had for Hi-Fi Rush, clearly there is a demonstrated appetite for this kind of game, with Tango Gameworks positioned perfectly to deliver it.
With Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks gave Microsoft just what Booty says he wants: a small, creatively unique, highly praised, award-winning game.
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