Breakdown
- Hi-Fi Rush creative director praised Xbox a month before getting fired
- The irony is too real, given how the studio was shelved
- Fans are sad that we'll never get Hi-Fi Rush 2
It was heartbreaking to see Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks get shut down, especially now that we know the game’s creator was praising Xbox not too long ago. After winning a BAFTA, something the head of Xbox wanted, the creator did an interview praising how their studio was allowed to have creative freedom.
John Johanas, the game’s creative director, spoke with Eurogamer last month where he was grateful for having the opportunity to make the game he wanted. Acknowledging how tricky the current game industry is, with big AAA studios not wanting to take major risks, Johanas was happy Xbox let Tango Gameworks do what they want.
"We have a good situation in our studio, where we were granted a lot of creative freedom and were able to take risks," said Johanas. "I know some studios are not afforded that opportunity.”
The Hi-Fi Rush creator goes on to acknowledge how hard it can be for a game to stick out and needing to find an audience. Reading all of these comments is heartbreaking, as he was clearly grateful for the opportunity and now the studio that made his dream game has closed down.
Making this situation even more heartbreaking is a Hi-Fi Rush 2 was pitched to Xbox after the first game’s success. Considering how well-liked the first game was, one would think that this would be an easy slam dunk for Xbox. However, that clearly wasn’t the case, and Xbox is now considering laying off even more employees who didn’t do anything wrong.
Xbox purchased numerous studios over the years, so it’s a disgrace to see them waste so much talent like this. Layoffs like this show that it doesn’t matter if you make an acclaimed game, one that stealth-dropped to rave reviews, it’s going to be as expendable as the bad ones. We can’t imagine what the folks working on Hellblade 2 are thinking right now.
Hi-Fi Rush is readily available on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC. It’s an absolutely marvelous game and one that should have been appreciated by Xbox.