Due to a lack of commercial success, Tango Gameworks was recently shut down by Xbox after making one of Microsoft’s most unique and beloved games of 2023. The closure took place in June of this year and was accompanied by a handful of other studios under the Bethesda umbrella as well. And then out of nowhere, Krafton, a Korean developer, swooped in to the rescue, and acquired Tango Gameworks. The CEO of Krafton has now stated that it didn’t acquire Tango because Hi-Fi Rush 2 would make a lot of money, but because it is a creative studio that could add to the Korean studio’s long-term value.
This move was powered by the intent to add more creative potential to the studio that owns the PUBG Corporation and Striking Distance, the developer behind The Callisto Protocol. The studio wants to create a variety of games even if they aren’t very successful financially.
Changhan Kim, CEO of Krafton, explained his views through a recent interview with Game Developer and said he wanted to maintain the legacy of Tango Gameworks. The actual acquisition has not yet been finalized, so we don’t know what the transaction will cost Krafton, but Kim did say that it was neither too expensive, nor was it too cheap.
Most interestingly though, he said that he doesn’t think that Hi-Fi Rush 2 will make a ton of money, but the developer still wants to develop challenging and unique games. Tango made something new, and Krafton wants more of that in the future, because Kim thinks it is a hit-or-miss industry, and having many projects in the portfolio mitigates the risk of missing.
This does mean that Hi-Fi Rush will live on, but if you’re hoping to see more games in The Evil Within series or the Ghostwire Tokyo franchise, you’re out of luck. These other games were not included in the transaction because they would have complicated the deal too much, and perhaps made it too expensive to be viable to Krafton.
