With the Hi-Fi Rush IP secured by publisher Krafton at the eleventh hour, Tango Gameworks was saved from the cutting room floor, a victim of Bethesda's bloody Microsoft-mandated restructure. In a year full of layoffs and studio closures, it remains one of the few positive industry occurrences, and the love fest continues, with Krafton pledging the developer its unstinting support.
It's not something you see every day, and Krafton CEO Changhan Kim spoke to Game Developer about the "last-minute deal". Kim said that "we wanted to maintain their legacy" by "[acquiring] as many people as possible", but as time was of the essence, the PUBG publisher didn't fight for Tango's other IP (like The Evil Within or Ghostwire: Tokyo).
While the Tango Gameworks deal is still being finalized, Kim could not comment on how much Krafton spent on the acquisition, but he did say: "[It was] not too expensive, or too cheap, either. We cannot really translate the volume into money. It's more about the significance; the dollar amount was not really important to Microsoft."
Encouragingly, Kim wants to champion creativity without fear of failure and, in a rare move, appears to have given the studio a blank cheque. Noting that Tango's previous games "may not even have broken even", Kim concludes: "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. But it's part of our attempt. We have to keep trying [to develop games] in the spirit of challenge-taking."
Are you surprised by Krafton's goodwill towards Tango Gameworks? Ride off into the sunset in the comments section below.
[source gamedeveloper.com]
Comments 16
I mean with all of the publishers out there wanting to always turn a profit, and risk takers don't mention said out-there endeavors, it's nice that Krafton is mentioning this in reference to a game like Hi-Fi Rush, which means I bet they're probably gonna let Tango go crazy. Can't say the same as a whole with The Callisto Protocol but hey, at least that didn't turn them off from being creatively risky
I think the bigger story here should be HiFi Rush 2 confirmed. We knew it would probably happen, but this all but guaranteed the game's in development.
@Fighting_Game_Loser
Considering how much of a cash cow PUBG was, they can go for a while on sheer good will but money runs everything and when their wallet will eventually start to get thinner will they keep holding on to that goodwill? Time will tell.
It's nice to know good will exists in this industry despite the massive turnover.
I like that. The game is kind of an indie-movie. It's important that it exists, it makes a lot of people happy. But everybody can be really happy if they are not losing money in the end.
So what this publisher die is a really amazing move and I hope it will be appreciated by the community and press in the long run.
A good news story!
(This is not a sarcastic comment on Pushsquares reporting but on the state of the industry in this area)
If they release it on PS and Xbox day one they will make a lot of profit especially from PS players who actually pay for their games unlike Xbox players who just download everything for free with Gamepass
Hope we do get evil within and ghostwire 🫠
It's reassuring to see a publisher behave this way, this industry is way too engrossed in the money side of things and has seem to have forgotten what gaming is about. It's also the kind of thing that Sony used to do; take risks on new IP from smaller teams. When that happens it enriches the whole environment. I wonder how many main stream games have borrowed ideas from small indy games that would never have got a chance without this kind of altruism?
@Dragoon1994 Are you sure everyone on an Xbox doesn't buy games? Can you supply that data?
I hate that I’m so skeptical towards this statement. I want to earnestly believe Tango is in good hands, but I really don’t know. Something about this publisher owning PUBG makes the whole thing not sit right with me…
A simultaneous launch across PS5, XSX, PC, and Switch 2, without any Game Pass goofiness included will probably lead to much higher launch numbers. Especially considering how much good will was generated by the first game.
Just grabbed the original myself on Steam. If I like it, I'll make a point of buying the sequel at launch.
Hey, PUBG money could've been used in a lot worse ways, I say.
Come to think of it, is anything making money in games nowadays? Pubs are bleeding money left and right...
I mean it might do better if it has some marketing behind it and not a shadow drop to a "free" service on either side.
Krafton seemed to care when Callisto Protocol didn't make a profit and they cut a bunch of jobs there.
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