Hi-Fi RUSH Developer Tango Gameworks Has Now Officially Closed Its Doors

they made a good game , they should be proud now it’s on their resume forever. studios getting closed is just business. at least they weren’t fired because they sucked at their job, that’s worse because it could’ve been demoralizing

Microsoft made a big mistake closing a talened studio that were capable of making great and different styles of games. Should have supported what they had instead of spending multiple millions on third party deals.

Made me hate Phil with a passion the disappearing act and when he does dare to show his face gives a typical corpo response. Didn't even bother thank the team at Tango absolutely disgusting.

I wish everyone that lost their job well and wouldn't be surprised if Sony or Nintendo took them on.

Whilst its sad to see a Studio with a decent back catalogue of Gaming titles closing, we don't really know what 'state' that Studio was in. We know the creator of Evil Within was no longer at Tango and it may well have been 'logistically' difficult to build that Studio up and/or support it fully due to Location.

Activision have announced 2 new Studio's opening since acquisition - Infinity Ward Austin (where MS has a few Studios although ended up closing Arkane Austin) and Elsewhere Studios in Poland. Poland is likely to be Cheaper (rates etc) and logistically maybe easier as Europe has a LOT of Developers to recruit from and not as 'Isolated' from MS's other Studios for 'support' as their Japanese studio was.

I do still feel this as a LOSS and a disappointing outcome though as a Gamer and wish ALL those affected at Tango a successful future.

@Kooky_Geezer "wouldn't be surprised if Sony or Nintendo took them on"

I doubt Sony will be doing that, they also closed a studio this year and laid people off from their most successful studios including Naughty Dog, Insomniac and Gorilla Games whilst at the same time have been paying for '3rd' party exclusivity.

Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush are great games and I'm still gutted about this closure. I just cannot see how they could have possibly been so unprofitable to deserve it.

@Kooky_Geezer What @Sifi said and regarding Nintendo, they have another business strategy, skeleton personnel and outsource the majority of the development to reduce costs and risks, with rare exceptions like the acquisition of one of them, Next Level Games. Nintendo doesn't own HAL Laboratory nor Intelligent Systems, in spite of hiring them since 1983.

Tango’s closure will forever be a stain in Microsoft/Xbox history, the biggest most unpleasant stain imo as it screams mismanagement and corporate greed.

We’ve heard Phil saying for more than a decade that he wants Xbox to have a foothold on Japan, for that they need to have relations with Japanese devs or having a Japanese team.
They finally got it in 2021 with Tango being included with Zenimax, they made 2 current-gen only titles (not many studios can say this currently), with one, Hi-Fi Rush being a “smash hit” (MS’ words) with both critics and public alike, personally becoming my favorite Xbox game of the last decade.

A few months later Xbox announces they’re taking the games to other platforms with all the excuses they gave but supposedly to “nurture the IP” but literally a month after launching on PS5 they closed down the studio entirely, it’s been a month, they showcase has passed but they still haven’t gave a good reason on why the studio deserved to be closed down, we’re only left with the rumors that it was just bad timing, the fact they weren’t in active development made them more disposable, which is just infuriating to me, talent means nothing, awards mean nothing, appraisal means nothing, being a ‘smash hit’ means nothing.

The showcase was great, really great, but this will always make me wary of Xbox and Microsoft moving forward.

@IOI If you just look at the fantastic games that they have developed and the timing, there is no easy explanation, but there are some things that reveal the background story that were discussed on the other fifteen threads about this closure.

Maybe it's related to the producers of Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush that had left the studio. Its founder had left it earlier and was not even involved in The Evil Within 2, an IP that he created. He founded Tango, yet wrote a tweet about its fate that some people believe is sarcastic. I believe that there were internal disagreements that led to everyone else have his game and, eventually, his studio.

Being in Japan, Microsoft can't do what they did with the Activision teams like move people, rebrand one team (Activision Albany) and create a new one (Activision Elsewhere). It's not that simple for a Western company to restructure a Japanese developer and find new talents in Japan. So, I think it's not just because of the games not being the biggest sellers, but all these circumstances together.

Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Evil Within were really great games and would have helped enrich the Xbox lineup.
There has always been a lack of Japanese games on the Xbox and I have enjoyed their unique games.
In addition to Tango Gameworks, ZeniMax Asia was also shut down. They were translating Bethesda Softworks games into Japanese. If the quality of the localization is compromised, this is also a problem. (If they merge with Xbox's terrible Japanese translation team, that's not a problem...)
I wish Microsoft would create a game studio in Japan on the level of Tango Gameworks.

At least they got Pizza out of it that's nice. Last day marked huh. That aside yeah it's sad. Business is business but I mean if Asobi goes too I'll have even less reason then I already don't have an interest in PlayStation. Even Media Molecule going I was like oh hmm I hope not.

I get big sales, whatever trends, too big and Indie and those go because we can't see them made anymore they aren't stable enough. I get whatever deals made and whatever with each company, what money is used for and where but I mean they aren't getting my money so they can keep pushing others but some of us are a minority of sales but eventually it amounts to something too but eh not enough.

I already have barely if any reason to use an Xbox other than a few use cases it's not new games from them currently that's for sure their decisions haven't gotten me interested enough.

Even besides the what couple I think are cool but that's about it. Not purchase worthy for me yet. Just I think are cool. That's a hard sell.

Just having Japanese translation/marketing regional staff isn't good enough.

Will never understand this move. Sends the wrong message to devs, fans, and most importantly the region your dying to get in, Japan. You also come off as disingenuous when you say the game was successful and that tango was in good shape. Just a head scratcher and a bad look.

There are very few studios that have been around a long time. There are a lot more disappointing closures than there are studios that have longevity.

Unfortunately, this is how the industry works. You need to build games that sell 10 mln plus copies consistently to stick around. Not a lot of studios do that.