'We need smaller games,' says Xbox's Matt Booty, right after Microsoft shut down the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush—and was reportedly about to pitch a sequel

Gaming IndustryHi-Fi Rush’We need smaller games,' says Xbox’s Matt Booty, right after Microsoft shut down the studio that made Hi-Fi Rush—and was reportedly about to pitch a sequelWhen 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)

Two robots from Hi-Fi Rush converse with each other, with one looking rather perplexed.

This one’s a head-scratcher. Less than a day aftershutting down both Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks—the latter of which created Hi-Fi Rush—Microsoft’s Matt Booty held a town hall wherein he proclaimed: “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards.”

More baffling still is (as per an internal email from the man himself at the time of said closures) these decisions were, quote: “Grounded in prioritising high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games.” The messages are mixed, but blending together like oil and water.

Hi-Fi Rush released to wide acclaim, but it carried with it thevibeof a small-scale title. A story that didn’t overstay its welcome, a unique concept executed flawlessly, and a shadow-drop onto Game Pass praised as a “break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations” fromMicrosoft itself.

Let’s get this all out on the corkboard, then:

But hey, in the interest of fairness, we should at least interrogate the statement itself.

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As someone who made this thing mypersonal pick for 2023(full disclosure, PC Gamer’s Tyler Colpgave it a score of 69—plenty of salient points as to why, even if I would’ve ranked it higher) the idea of a dead-in-the-water Hi-Fi Rush sequel fills me with deep sorrow.

But I think it’s important to recognise that Booty’s comment here, while completely failing to read the room, baffling on the face of it, and running pretty contrary to his stated justifications for shutting Tango Gameworks down—isn’t necessarily false. That’s not my speculation, that’s directly from the studio.

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(Image credit: Tango Gameworks)

The squad from Hi-Fi Rush puts their heads together to devise a solid plan.

Back in October 2023,Xbox Wire spoke with several members of Tangoabout the game, and its development team was pretty insistent that the thing wasn’t created on a shoestring budget. While Game Director John Johanas does say that the game started with “the smallest thing possible”, this was in its prototype stages, with “just myself and a programmer (Yuji Nakamura)” working on it for a year.

From there, however, the project gained enough traction and excitement within the studio to expand into its own thing—in terms of the game’s budget, Johanas remarks: “people probably see it as this weird, sort-of AA title. Or people are like, ‘Oh, they made a nice indie game.’ This ain’t no indie game. Obviously, I can’t say how much it cost, but it was not a cheap game to make.”

(Image credit: Tyler C. / Tango Gameworks)

Hi-Fi Rush screenshot

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