Krafton Says It Acquired Tango to Maintain Legacy Even if Hi-Fi Rush 2 Doesn't Make Money - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 September 2024 / 1,975 Views

Publisher Krafton last month announced it had acquired developer Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Xbox.

Krafton CEO Changhan 'CH' Kim in an interview with Game Developer revealed the acquisition was a "last minute deal" and was done to maintain the legacy of Tango even if Hi-Fi Rush 2 doesn't make money.

"We wanted to maintain their legacy," says Kim. "Although they did not have a big success in their games, we saw many creatives worth pursuing. That's why we wanted to work with that organization."

He added, "Because Hi-Fi Rush fans really want to see sequels, we negotiated with Tango Gameworks' parent company [Microsoft] to acquire that IP as well" and Krafton "wanted to help the team continue developing their games, but especially Hi-Fi Rush. When I think about our fans, I think what they really care about is Hi-Fi Rush sequels."

The deal is still being finalized and said, "the dollar amount was not really important to Microsoft." However, Kim was not able to share how much Krafton spent on the studio and the Hi-Fi Rush IP.

Kim added, "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.

"Tango Gameworks are creative. They want to try something new, and we want to do more of that. [Making] video games is really a hit or miss industry, and that is risk taking. But having more project lineups is actually a way to mitigate risk, because one of them might work out.

"Did it add a lot of money to Microsoft? That might not be the case. I'm not saying I know how much they made–this is just my guess. But the IP itself was very fresh [and featured] new types of gameplay. I know it's not a game a lot of studios were making, and we have to keep trying [that approach]."

Kim stated the goal is to "recoup the production costs."

"The big hit shouldn't be your goal," he said. "If you think about it that way, Hi-Fi Rush might have brought in a little bit of a minus in terms of the financials, but it's a team that should be encouraged to create something new and continue their journey. We want to have more teams like that under our umbrella."

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

6 Comments

JRPGfan (on 20 September 2024)

that guy actually sounds reasonable... and to be frank, whats wrong with just breaking even or a little over? Why do these top heads, all expect insane profit levels, chasing the current fads that make that type of money (but often fail) instead of just doing the safe and responsible thing, and taking things step by step ?