Hi-Fi Rush Studio Shutdown / Tango Gameworks Shutdown

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Part of a series on Hi-Fi Rush. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Hi-Fi Rush Studio Shutdown or Tango Gameworks Shutdown refers to the closure of the video game company Tango Gameworks, the studio behind the acclaimed 2023 game Hi-Fi Rush. The shutdown was announced in early May 2024 by Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios Chief Matt Booty, who also shuttered three other Bethesda Studios at the time, claiming the decision was “grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games." The news sparked outrage among Hi-Fi Rush's fans, who mourned studio closure on Twitter / X, TikTok and Reddit, among other sites.

Background

On May 7th, 2024, Xbox Game Studios Chief Matt Booty announced the closure of Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and three other Bethesda Studios in a memo to Microsoft staff. According to Variety,^[1] Booty wrote that the studios' shutdown was “grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.” Additionally, he added, “We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”

IGN^[2] uploaded a video commenting on the Bethesda Studios' shutdown on May 7th, which received more than 35,000 views and 820 likes in a day (seen below).

Developments

Tango Gameworks Statement

After Microsft announced the immediate shutdown of Tango Gameworks on May 7th, 2024, the company shared a brief statement on X^[7] / Twitter, writing, "Thank you to everyone that explored the worlds we created." The post (shown below) received roughly 79,000 likes and 24,000 reposts in a day.

Hi-Fi Rush Sequel

A Bloomberg^[3] report posted on May 8th, 2024, revealed that Tango Gameworks was in the process of pitching a Hi-Fi Rush sequel and tried to hire additional staff before its sudden closure. That same day, X^[4] user @Wario64 posted part of Bloomberg's article commenting on the reported sequel plans (shown below), which amassed more than 17,000 likes and 3,800 reposts in less than a day.

Online Reactions

Hi-Fi Rush's fans mourned the studio's shutdown on social media, sparking a series of tributes and fan art in support of Tango Gameworks. For example, on May 8th, 2024, X^[5] user @Dreweyes posted a fan art inspired by the game (seen below, left), pairing it with the "RIP caption, which received roughly 7,900 likes and 1,400 reposts in less than a day.

On May 7th, X^[6] user @RealAlexMouse recalled the irony of Hi-Fi Rush's plot about "teaming up to take down a megacorporation and Tango Gameworks just got shutdown." The tweet (seen below, right) garnered over 17,000 likes and 2,800 reposts in a day.

The Hi-Fi Rush Reddit channel received several memes and posts from enraged fans. For example, on May 8th, 2024, Redditor^[8] Low_Fruit_7316 posted a screenshot of the game accompanied by the caption "Goodbye, Hi-Fi Rush" (seen below, left), which garnered more than 200 upvotes and 14 comments in less than a day.

On the same day, Redditor^[9] Party-Organization-9 compared the line from the game "I don't care about passion. I care about PROFITS" with Microsoft's decision to close Tango Gameworks. The post (seen below, right) received over 1,100 upvotes and 60 comments in less than a day.