Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush a day after shutting down its studio

Today, one day after Microsoft announced it would close four of its game studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a public meeting to discuss the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and prizes,” Booty told employees, according to internal comments shared with On the edge.

For some listeners to the conference call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just closed Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was exiting the small and prestigious hit title High Fidelity Racing.

High Fidelity Racing, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm-action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the PS2 era. Just four months after its release, High Fidelity Racing reached 3 million players. During the 2023-2024 awards season, the game won a Game Award, a Game Developers Choice award, and a BAFTA.

Although Microsoft didn’t share sales data, it was apparently pleased with the game. When rumors surfaced that it wasn’t doing well commercially, Aaron Greenberg, Xbox’s vice president of games marketing, wrote on X that High Fidelity Racing “It was a huge success for us and our players by all key measures and expectations.”

By all accounts, including that of Microsoft itself, Tango Gameworks was a success and something totally different from anything that had ever been done before. Before High Fidelity RacingTango Gameworks was known exclusively for its survival horror games, including The evil within series and Ghostwire: Tokyo. In an interview with Kinda funny gamesXbox boss Phil Spencer talked about how important it was for Xbox to allow studios to make games outside of their comfort zones.

“I want to give teams the creative platform to develop their skills and aspirations,” said Spencer.

High Fidelity Racing it also represented Microsoft’s commitment to bringing Japanese exclusives to the console. In an interview with Watch the gamea Japanese media outlet about video games, Spencer praised High Fidelity Racing for its “high quality” and said gamers could “expect” to see more AAA titles from Japan, evoking the days when Lost Odyssey It is blue Dragon were both exclusive on Xbox 360. “While there are titles we can’t announce yet,” Spencer said in the September 2023 interview, translated by VGC, “We are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies.” It’s worth asking if that’s still the plan now that Tango has closed.

Right now, small single-player games like High Fidelity Racing are having a great time. Balatroa poker roguelike made by a single developer, sold more than 1 million copies in its first month. lordly gentlemenanother solo development project in early access on Steam, as well sold more than 1 million copies. Hades 2 has just been released in early access and doubled its predecessor’s all-time peak player base on Steam in a single day. Even the original Hades is climbing the Steam charts again, breaking its all-time player count record just today almost four years after its initial release.

While we don’t know exactly what sales goals Microsoft had for High Fidelity Racing, there is clearly a demonstrated appetite for this type of game, with Tango Gameworks perfectly positioned to deliver it. In fact, according a report of BloombergTango Gameworks was in the process of releasing a sequel to High Fidelity Racing before being turned off.

With High Fidelity Racing, Tango Gameworks gave Microsoft exactly what Booty says it wants: a small, creatively unique, highly praised and award-winning game. Booty’s comments, then, suggest that Xbox leaders couldn’t recognize what they had in their hands — or simply didn’t know how to take advantage of the success they sought.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment.