PUBG owner Krafton have acquired Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush IP
The move is the company's "first significant investment in the Japanese video game market"
Tango Gameworks are back from the dead. The Hi-Fi Rush studio have been acquired - alongside the IP for future games in the rhythm action series - by South Korean company Krafton, who also own PUBG Studios and Striking Distance, among others. “This strategic move will include the rights to Tango Gameworks’ acclaimed IP, Hi-Fi Rush,” Krafton said in a statement today. I particularly enjoy the hand-rubbing, grinning use of the word ‘strategic’ here. Great news though.
Former parent company Microsoft announced that they were shutting down Tango Gameworks back in May, alongside Redfall studio Arkane Austin and Mighty Doom makers Alpha Dog Games. In an email to staff, Xbox boss Matt Booty called the move a “consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP." The next day, Booty said that Xbox needed “smaller games that give us prestige and awards" at a town hall meeting.
Anyway. Hi-Fi Rush (a small game that won multiple awards including a BAFTA) went down a treat with both fans and critics, including Hirun Cryer for RPS, who called it a “a fantastic cocktail of rhythm-based head banging and action-packed platforming.” Following Booty’s statement, Tango project manager Kazuaki Egashira posted a shelf filled with accolades, accompanied by the immortal words “not enough?”. Basically, Hi-Fi Rush was adored, and Microsoft’s choice to shutter Tango felt like one of the uglier decisions in a year full of them.
Whether Krafton themselves being the ones with the necromancy scrolls is a positive or not, we’ll have to wait and see. But learning Tango has a future feels like a great start to the week. Krafton say they’re working with Xbox and Zenimax to “ensure a smooth transition and maintain continuity at Tango Gameworks, allowing the talented team to continue developing the Hi-Fi Rush IP and explore future projects,” though say there'll be “no impact on the existing game catalog of The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the original Hi-Fi Rush game.” Presumably, these other IPs haven’t changed hands.