Hi-Fi Rush 2 Won’t Make Big Money for Krafton, Which Is Aiming for Creative, Original Games from Tango Gameworks

The CEO of KratfonChanghan ‘CH’ Kim, said that He doesn’t believe Hi-Fi Rush 2 will generate big profitsalthough the company would still seem to be intent on making a sequel to satisfy fans and at the same time is interested in the great creativity and talent of developers by Tango Gameworks.

As you probably know, the studio was previously owned by Microsoft, which decided to close it down in June. Surprisingly, in August, Krafton announced that it has acquired the teamretaining around 50 of its 100-strong workforce of developers and also acquiring the Hi-Fi Rush IP.

The Reasons Behind the Tango Gameworks Acquisition

Kim explained that the acquisition was not dictated by commercial reasonsbut creative, because, despite the fact that Tango Gameworks’ games have proven to be unprofitable, the team has talented elements capable of creating original games and completely different from those created by the company’s other proprietary studios.

“We wanted to maintain their legacy,” Kim said. “Even though they didn’t have a lot of success with their games, we saw a lot of creatives that were worth pursuing. Since Hi-Fi Rush fans really want to see sequels, we negotiated with Tango Gameworks’ parent company Microsoft to acquire this IP as well.”

Kim added that Krafton wanted to close a deal with Microsoft quickly, which is also one of the reasons why did not try to acquire the IPs of Ghostwire Tokyo and The Evil Within as well. “If we were to acquire all the IP, I think it would be too complicated. Krafton is a pretty big company, but Microsoft is very complicated,” he says. “We wanted to help the team continue to develop their games, but especially Hi-Fi Rush. When I think about our fans, I think what they really care about is sequels to Hi-Fi Rush.”

Kim added that he could not discuss the exact figures of the deal as the acquisition has not yet been fully finalized, suggesting that in any case for Microsoft “the figure was not really important” and that Krafton aims to grow Tango Gameworks’ headcount to at least 100 employees to continue Hi-Fi Rush, or even more, in view of new projects.

“I think a minimum of 100 people is our goal. We need to get to that size. It’s a minimum requirement to continue developing the franchise. Or maybe they’ll need a bigger team. We haven’t decided yet, but we don’t plan to reduce the size of the team. They also have to work on new projectsso it is very likely that the team will grow further.”

Hi-Fi Rush 2 may not be a blockbuster, but that’s not the most important thing for Krafton

Kim added that in his opinion He doesn’t believe that the games made by Tango Gameworks were commercial successesincluding Hi-Fi Rush, and in some cases the investments may not even have been recovered. In his opinion, Hi-Fi Rush 2 won’t bring in big money either for the company, which however sees in Tango Gameworks a studio with a lot of potential and able to make new and original games, which is in line with Krafton’s goals.

“We are trying to increase our product portfolio and that’s where Tango Gameworks comes in,” Kim said, noting that many of Tango’s previous titles ‘may not have even broken even.

“We can’t acquire Tango Gameworks based on its finances or its numbers, right? We don’t think Hi-Fi Rush 2 will make us any money.to be honest. But it’s part of our attempt. We have to keep challenging ourselves by making new games.”

“The developers at Tango Gameworks are creative. They want to try something new, and we want to do more. Games are a never-say-die industry, and that means taking risks. But having multiple projects is actually a way to mitigate risk, because one of them might work.”

Asked whether Hi-Fi Rush was a commercial success for Microsoft, Kim said he didn’t know the exact numbers, but he didn’t think it generated much revenue, reiterating that that wasn’t the most important thing.

“Did it make Microsoft a lot of money? It might not have. I’m not saying I know how much they made, that’s just my guess. But the IP itself was very fresh and had new gameplay. I know it’s not a game that a lot of studios make, and we need to keep trying that approach.”

“Big success should not be our goal. If we think about it, Hi-Fi Rush may have brought some financial disadvantages, but it is Tango is a team that should be encouraged to create something new and to continue its journey. We want to have more teams like this in our stable.”