280°

Xbox Gives Incoherent Explanation For ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ Studio Closure

The gaming world is still reeling from the announcement that Microsoft is shuttering Tango Gameworks, the studio behind last year’s big Xbox hit, Hi-Fi Rush.

Reaper22_18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

They have a reason but they don't need to give a explanation. Gamers nowadays think they have a say so in telling people how to run their company. It's not the end of the world, fanboys. Microsoft is gonna due what benefits them the most. It's never been about you. Same with sony. Some of you need to get a grip. The crazy part is that some of the ones complaining don't even own an xbox.

enkiduxiv18d ago

I don’t own an Xbox and I have no real interest in HiFi Rush. I just hate to see a talented group of people lose their jobs when they did everything that was asked of them. You know… the decent, normal reaction to have when something like this happens.

Relientk7719d ago

There's no logical or good reason to give for closing Tango Gameworks. They make great games consistently and Hi-Fi Rush was the highest rated Xbox game in literal YEARS. Closing the studio was just plain stupid and nonsensical.

notachance19d ago

It’s quite strange to not see Phil Spencer in any talkshow or podcast… usually the dude would talk almost daily when there’s even a bit of news from xbox.

Hofstaderman19d ago

Muzzled and/or in on it from the very beginning. You have to be a very stupid person not to anticipate that your division is going to be under scrutiny from shareholders after 80 Billion Dollars worth of acquisitions

Aloymetal19d ago

The beauty of being a CEO here in America is that when your company does well, you get extra money as a reward...
And when your company does badly, you get extra money to encourage you to stick around and lead it through the storm...And at some point, you get to bow out and float toward retirement on your golden parachute, which means and you guessed it, MORE MONEY!! What a deal for snake oil man Phil!!

19d ago
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-Foxtrot18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

Oh god no

You see when shit like this happens he throws Sarah Bond to the wolves

Seriously I only hear from her when it’s the yearly big Xbox showcase or when it’s super bad.

When the whole multiplatform release came out earlier this year he put her front and centre…kept his mouth shut for most of it

shinoff218318d ago

Maybe she's the one pushing

Michiel198918d ago

weird huh for a president of a division to say thing about said division?

Reaper22_18d ago

A game can be successful and still not reach a intended goal. No one likes to see studio closures and lost job but there's always the risk of this happening. At the end of the day the companies are going to do what they want.

TheCaptainKuchiki18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

The press is FINALLY calling out his lies and calling for his resignation.
Bakc then they would say amen to all his lies. But he can't lie anymore.

purple10119d ago

Perhaps they think they can sweep this one under the rug, gamers will forget about it,

We will not

They made a good game and you put the whole studio in the bin, this couldn’t be clearer, ms don’t care, everyone suspected it, but now we KNOW it

Amplitude19d ago (Edited 19d ago )

She's kinda got the verbal communication of 3-years-ago Biden trying to say something he knows nothing about.
What she meant to say is: "We wasted our budget for the next couple years buying Call of Duty, and we're moving all our chips to that one series"

It's starting to seem quite obvious that XBox is going to be shutting down most of their studios or selling them off, then focusing on some sort of PC/Console hybrid OS for the next XBox where they can collect royalties Valve style.

esherwood18d ago

To be fair I don’t think there is a good answer, I’d rather her been honest but that probably would have pissed more people of then the word salad route.

Silly Mammo18d ago

Amp- Do you ever get tired of trying to make everything political?

1Victor18d ago

@amp please leave your political red ruby sleepers at the door this is a gaming site or go back to truthfoxnewsmax to comment over there.
BACK ON TRACK
It’s obvious that Microsoft is moving on the money now direction guided by their investors watching all the failures from the 3rd quarter of the 360 gen to this generation I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a plan to replace Phil with Bobby as he proved for years he kept making money for activision.

shinoff218318d ago

Bobby jeez that would be an interesting turn of events and they'd certainly go 3rd party

shinoff218318d ago (Edited 18d ago )

Always that one guy bringing politics.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 18d ago
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80°

Every PlayStation Studios game available now on Windows PC

Windows Central writes: "Many PlayStation Studios games that are ported to PC get dedicated PS5 DualSense support, which allows users to experience haptic feedback and adaptive trigger support without actually having to own a PS5.

According to Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, it's still the company's intent to launch the bigger single-player games on PS5 first, before later bringing the games to PC. This might not be the case for multiplayer games however, which are considered okay to launch simultaneously on console and PC."

Read Full Story >>
windowscentral.com
ocelot0712h ago

My guess is after god of war. Probably last of us 2 that's a almost 4 year old game now and by the time it's released on pc it will be more than 4 years old or close to 5.

Elda6h ago

Every old Playstation game that is now on PC.

XiNatsuDragnel4h ago

Good at least they can sell hardware

210°

Former Activision studio Toys for Bob partners with Xbox to publish its first game as an indie

Former Activision studio Toys for Bob partners with Xbox to publish its first game as an indie. This is something of a homecoming, as Microsoft owns Activision.

Read Full Story >>
engadget.com
Obscure_Observer22h ago

Very very early in development. Still, fantastic news!

Let´s GO!!!

Lightning7720h ago

I guess.

How come they didnt either let them go or sell Tango and others to another publisher? Not saying Ubisoft, EA would be any better. (Capcome would of treated them right )

At least it wouldn't be MS of all ppl destroying them.

MS really should let go Tango go like they did TFB here.

darthv7220h ago(Edited 20h ago)

one was under Bethesda (Tango) the other under Activision (TFB). Clearly each one handled the separations of their subordinates differently.

Obscure_Observer19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

"How come they didnt either let them go or sell Tango and others to another publisher? Not saying Ubisoft, EA would be any better. (Capcome would of treated them right )"

Perhaps because Zenimax and ABK handles such matters differently based on their own internal policies as "independent" publishers.

Whoever, chances are it´s simply because MS didn´t wanted Tango or Austin to be acquired by competitors and develop new bangers for them, giving MS a bad rep in a possible future. Which could also be the reason why they ensured an exclusive partnership with TFB and its new game, before anyone else.

Sad and disgusting. But it is what it is.

Lightning7716h ago(Edited 16h ago)

"Whoever, chances are it´s simply because MS didn´t wanted Tango or Austin to be acquired by competitors and develop new bangers for them, giving MS a bad rep in a possible future."

MS has a bad rep now because those studios are no more. I rather them sell the studio continue to make multiplatform releases, while MS continues to focus on whatever they're doing. If they didn't want Tango around they should separated from them or sell them to, like they did TFB.

It's inexcusable, they have options on how to handle studios they don't want anymore with killing jobs. Not just MS but the rest of the industry also.

Sad and disgusting sure how many will get shut down next year or this year even?

I don't trust MS decisions and motivations at this point. You have to admit they make one dumb move after another.

Obscure_Observer8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

"MS has a bad rep now because those studios are no more. I rather them sell the studio continue to make multiplatform releases, while MS continues to focus on whatever they're doing. If they didn't want Tango around they should separated from them or sell them to, like they did TFB."

Imo, MS separated from TFB because they didn´t had a game associated with Xbox yet, unlike Tango.

"I don't trust MS decisions and motivations at this point. You have to admit they make one dumb move after another."

Fair enough. It was indeed an epic dumb move from them to close Tango.

Still, all to be forgotten, like always have. This is not the first time a big publisher shuts down a beloved and/or successful studio out of nowhere and certainly won´t be the last. Do you remember Lionhead? Do you remember Evolution Studios? Yeah... both were beloved studios and yet, those companies kill those studios in q blink of an eye and got away with it.

anast6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

The studio boss made some money from this transaction. Once the game releases, the studio will get chopped up.

-Foxtrot22h ago

Manages to buy their freedom especially after all the shit Microsoft has been doing with its studios lately

...

Goes right back to them as partners.

Okaaaaaay...

darthv7220h ago

Id venture a guess that TFB working directly with MS was a better outcome than working through Activision to get to MS.

VersusDMC18h ago

From the article...

"Toys for Bob spun out as an indie back in February after Microsoft instituted sweeping layoffs that impacted 86 employees, which was more than half of the staff"

I doubt those 86 employees enjoyed the Microsoft experience over Activisions.

Inverno18h ago

MS shuts down studios because of lack of resources and then helps these guys by giving em resources. Also MS is what forced them to buy their freedom in the first place? What kind of logic 😂

Chevalier15h ago

The best thing is that the company that is worth $3 trillion and owns the company instead of Xbox lacks resources. How the hell does a company worth $3 trillion making a measly $70 billion purchase they 'can't' support. Lol

Sciurus_vulgaris20h ago(Edited 20h ago)

Xbox’s gaming division seems to still function as 3 semi-autonomous sub-divisions, Xbox Studios, Bethesda and ABK. The three main sub-divisions can seemingly shut down or build studios and set up partnerships independently. This would explain why Bethesda can recently shutdown studios, while ABK spins off one studio, while building a new one. Plus, Toys for Bob could be spun off by ABK, only to immediately re-partner with Microsoft.

Chevalier14h ago

That's absolutely 💯 BS. Any sane 'autonomous' company would NOT put their games on Gamepass day 1 like COD will lose probably billions.

Also they're all under Xbox game studios so any autonomy is an illusion.

PhillyDonJawn2h ago

No, I'm sure MS can and does step in when they want something done specifically but I'm also sure they let them also work independently

Elda15h ago

Either a kiddie game or something uninteresting.

Obscure_Observer8h ago

Don´t worry. You won´t be playing it anyway since their next game will possible be a next gen Xbox console game.

PhillyDonJawn2h ago

Right probably something like astrobot

romulus232h ago

Nah he said "uninteresting", lots of people are interested in Astro Bot.

Elda7m ago

Never Astro Bot. Astro Bot looks better than any exclusive released on XB this entire generation & believe there hasn't been much.

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130°

What Happens to Your Steam Account When You Die?

The Outerhaven writes: While Steam has come out recently, stating that Steam accounts can't be transferred, we need to think about it since we all will eventually kick the bucket. But if Valve is denying transferring accounts, what can be done? Plenty, actually.

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theouterhaven.net
thorstein1d 23h ago

It goes to my kids because I gave them the passwords.

To Steam: Missio has a song that conveys my feelings about you stealing my purchase after I die. It's called "Middle Fingers"

shinoff21831d 4h ago

Pretty much. My son knows my info.

Abear211d 4h ago

Yeah worrying about digital ownership when you’re on the other side of the grass seems a little strange, but also on brand for these millennial journalists to worry about.

qalpha13h ago

I'm sure Keith will be happy to hear he's a millennial journalist.

Goodguy011d 8h ago

I suppose if I have kids, I'd just give em my account details by retirement age. If I die young then...idk lol.

CrimsonWing691d 6h ago

Yea, I mean just give someone the password to your account. Is that difficult to do or something? Like, I’m legit asking because I don’t know.

anast1d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

It's not difficult but It's against the policy. If they find out, they will lock the account permanently.

CrimsonWing691d 3h ago

Ah ok, I had a feeling there was something like that. It seems kind of weird that you can’t just hand your account over to a family member or friend and let them take over the account.

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