Hi-Fi Rush gets a bittersweet last patch as Tango Gameworks takes its final bow: 'Thank you again… You're all rockstars!'

GamesActionHi-Fi RushHi-Fi Rush gets a bittersweet last patch as Tango Gameworks takes its final bow: ‘Thank you again… You’re all rockstars!‘When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Tango Gameworks)

Hi-Fi Rush characters sitting together, looking off into the distance toward a setting sun

Just days after Microsoft announced the upcomingclosure of Tango Gameworks(alongside Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games), the studio has released one final patch for the outstanding rhythm-based action game Hi-Fi Rush.

Hi-Fi Rush was unequivocally great. It holds an “overwhelmingly positive” user rating on Steam across more than 23,000 user reviews and an 87% aggregate score on Metacritic, although—full disclosure here—we gave it a less-than-stellar 69% in our ownreview. It was also “a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations,” in the words of Microsoft’sAaron Greenberg, who added, “We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.”

Yet somehow that big, undeniable success—which came on top of past critical success with The Evil Within games and Ghostwire: Tokyo—wasn’t enough to justify keeping the studio around. Even more baffling, less than a day after killing Tango Gameworks, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty had the nerve to hold a town hall meeting in which he said, “We needsmaller games that give us prestige and awards.” (Here’s what Hi-Fi Rush directorJohn Johanas thought of that).

(Image credit: Kazuaki Egashira (Twitter))

Not enough? #HiFiRush #TangoGameworks

There was no better answer to be found in Xbox president Sarah Bond’sexplanation of the closure, which explained nothing at all. Ultimately, it seems to come down to a single, bleak thought: Making good games—even when they’re commercial and critical hits—isn’t enough to guarantee a secure future. Decisions are made in corporate boardrooms, where the game themselves are essentially irrelevant.

It’s not as though we haven’t seen plenty ofevidence to that effectover the past half year and a half, but the closure of Tango Gameworks lands like a particularly egregious reminder that the gears of capitalism will grind anything that adds up to a better percentage in a quarterly report. The development legend and Tango founder Shinji Mikami’s reaction summed it all up in a word: “sad”.

Anyway, to the matter at hand:

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Check out the changes in our final update. Thanks for all your support, and keep on rocking! 🎸 Patch notes: https://t.co/Ls01tzvIMI pic.twitter.com/SQ3wAd4hALMay 15, 2024

The farewell message attached to today’s final patch is brief and bittersweet: “We’ve released a patch today that takes care of some remaining issues. Check out the changes, and thank you again for your support of Hi-Fi RUSH. You’re all rockstars!”

So were you, Tango Gameworks. Another studio that deserved a whole lot better than this.

The full patch notes are below.

We’ve released a patch today that takes care of some remaining issues.

Check out the changes, and thank you again for your support of Hi-Fi RUSH. You’re all rockstars!

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