Krafton CEO Talks Tango Gameworks Acquisition, Says Hi-Fi Rush 2 Likely Won't Make Money

Recently Microsoft made the surprise decision to shut down one of its newly acquired studios, Tango Gameworks. The team released the critical darling Hi-Fi Rush and everyone thought the team was safe. Thankfully before it was officially shut down Microsoft cut a deal with Krafton Inc to sell the studio instead, along with the Hi-Fi Rush IP and we now are learning a bit more about the deal and what it means.

Speaking in an interview with Game Developer Krafton CEO Changhan ‘CH’ Kim said that the deal was a last minute brokered deal and was more about Tango's legacy than anything else. “We wanted to maintain their legacy,” says Kim. “Although they did not have a big success in their games, we saw many creatives worth pursuing. That’s why we wanted to work with that organization.”

I think it's safe to say after this interview we will be seeing more Hi-Fi Rush

Talking specifically about the importance of acquiring the Hi-Fi Rush IP Kim says "Because Hi-Fi Rush fans really want to see sequels, we negotiated with Tango Gameworks’ parent company [Microsoft] to acquire that IP as well." That makes sense but why not acquire all of Tango's IPs such as The Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo?

“If we were to acquire all IPs, I think it’s going to complicate the deal too much. Krafton is a pretty big company, but Microsoft is very complicated,” Kim says. “We wanted to help the team continue developing their games, but especially Hi-Fi Rush. When I think about our fans, I think what they really care about is Hi-Fi Rush sequels.”

Many people had assumed Xbox simply chose to keep those IPs and therefore plan on using them. We don't know if they would have sold those IPs or not, but it at least sounds like they were never brought up so perhaps that's all it was.

A sequel will be more about creative freedom than financial success

Interestingly Kim spoke on the success of Hi-Fi Rush and implied that he doesn't expect the game to make them much money, if it makes any at all, but it is more about giving the studio the creative freedom to create what they want without a fear of failure.

"We can’t acquire Tango Gameworks based on their financials or their numbers, right? We don’t think Hi-Fi Rush 2 is going to make us money, to be frank,” he continues. “But it’s part of our attempt. We have to keep trying [to develop games] in the spirit of challenge-taking."

It's certainly refreshing to hear a company talk about wanting the games to be good and allow creative freedom rather than focus on the sales success. Having said that obviously making money is needed to keep a business running so hopefully future Tango games can achieve that.