Matt Booty has shared the most detailed explanation yet on why Microsoft chose to shut down Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks.
In a new interview with Variety, Matt went into detail on the company’s line of thinking.
Before offering his explanation, Matt made it clear that Microsoft did put a lot of effort into making sure that the staff at Tango Gameworks were properly taken care of, in terms of severance, benefits, etc.
We aren’t explaining this to justify these firings or put Microsoft in a good light, but it is true that the company is particularly known for being a good workplace, and that extends to severance. This is not something we should be ignoring, given rumors of other video game companies that cheated their employees of such benefits.
But here’s what Matt had to say:
“I won’t get into the real nitty-gritty sort of details on what went into the decision, mostly out of respect for the people there. Because there’s a lot of work that went into delivering Hi-Fi Rush, which was a great game, and did well for us.
I think the thing to be considered is that for us is it’s as much a forward looking situation as it is a looking back at one certain game.
Now there are a lot of things that go into the success for a game, what leadership do you have? What creative leadership do you have? Is the team the same team that shipped something successful previously? We have to look at all of those things together and ask ourselves, are we set up for success going forward?
And while there may have been factors and situations that previously led to success, they may not all still be in place as you look at what you’re doing moving forward.”
It’s a bit surprising that Matt said they aren’t getting into detail “out of respect for the people there.” It absolutely implies that there was some sort of defect or issue found in Tango Gameworks that led Zenimax to decide to close the studio, and for Microsoft to approve the decision.
It is possible that there are issues in Tango that Microsoft is deliberately hiding with the public. We won’t speculate on what that could be in specific, but we may be open to the idea that everything in the studio was not as rosy as it appeared to the outside when they were winning gamers over with Hi-Fi Rush.
Matt also addressed a common question and speculation that fans had about Tango’s closure. AS it turns out, they did look at what could be done to save the studio, as they were able to do for Toys for Bob. In Matt’s words:
“And with many of our studios, we try to look at options. For example, we recently had Toys For Bob, a studio that was previously working on Call of Duty titles, go back out and become a new independent studio.
I think we’ve announced that we got a publishing deal with them, and we’ll share more about that when it’s more important.
Back to a studio called Twisted Pixel in Texas, that we acquired, and for a certain change in goals – it wasn’t a perfect match anymore. But that studio today is still thriving, we wanted to set them up for success.
So we absolutely look at what the possible business options are, to keep a studio open, or perhaps to have it change hands, and it’s just one of the things we look at across the board.
Sometimes those things come together, sometimes they don’t.”
Now, considering that rumors around the grapevine about the reasons for Tango’s closure don’t match up with Matt’s statement, one of two things could be possible. Either Matt is obfuscating the real situation, or the rumor mill doesn’t really have access to information from higher ups.
It is possible that the people working as insiders are employees at Tango, or other people in lower levels. It would make sense that such employees would make their own speculations, but have no real idea what their bosses are thinking.
Matt couldn’t go into the ‘nitty-gritty’ of Tango Gameworks’ closure, but at least this time we do get a little more insight into what happened. It certainly made more sense to ask the Xbox president of gaming content and studios about this, than the head of the division in charge of the console.
This probably also means that Tango’s employees are getting continued support while they find new work. Hopefully, they can find placement back in the video game industry, and hopefully not in another studio with a future in peril yet again.
