Game News 2.0

I don’t think it was ‘groundbreaking’ per se (indeed, having something of a PS2 / Dreamcast throwback spirit was part of its appeal), but it was amazingly crafted within its form factor. Just an interesting idea (combining two genres) perfectly executed. It’s up there with Bayonetta for me as one of the great 3D combat games, and a deeply satisfying and polished rhythm game on top - combined, that creates a wonderfully immersive and multi-layered game. A rare modern 10/10 instant classic for me, thanks to the presentational confidence and surprising depth to the combat revealed in its harder difficulties. It deserved all the acclaim it got, and remains one of the games of the decade so far for me.

Doesn’t matter to me whether it was a blockbuster hit or not (though, again, Microsoft said it surpassed expectations, and the awards / acclaim speak for themselves). What it represented for GamePass was much more encouraging - using a subscription model to support smaller, more nice games that may not have had the support otherwise. Microsoft blew all that goodwill in one swoop when they shut the studio.

Personally, if Microsoft asked for Hi Fi Rush 2 for Game Pass, I’d hope Tango 2.0 would tell them to get in the f***ing sea.

1. Because Microsoft closed the studio
2. Because the whole sorry affair proves that dumping a game on GamePass maybe isn’t a sustainable approach for many games, let alone the most profitable. Give it a proper multi-format release with plenty of marketing - much healthier and more sustainable release plan IMO, without devaluing it by giving it away for ‘free’.

Pay the bills as needed. But better ways to do that than GamePass these days.

I’d argue Microsoft already pretty definitively torched that bridge, so **** ‘em.

Don’t think there’d be any benefit in ruling out an Xbox release or anything. Just think there’s a much better chance for the game to thrive with a proper, non-subscription-based multiplatform release, especially now that it has a profile and fans.

The thing is though, there has been lots of leaks about this game beforehand. You can Youtube 'Deadlock gameplay' and find clips going back months. I was reading articles about its various systems weeks ago, and there was no backlash or controversy over that.

I think it's an unreasonable expectation that there's a game being played by that many people - 22,000 concurrents as I type! - with a generous public invite system but video game reporters with access to the game are expected to just be quiet about it and pretend it doesn't exist. A reporter’s job is to break stories, not just follow a company’s marketing plan to the letter.

If it was a smaller pool of players, totally get the need for hush-hush and respecting any informal requests to not share details. But when you have nearly as many concurrent players as Helldivers 2, then frankly all bets are off. It's not the reporter's fault that Valve are being extremely weird and secretive about the rollout of the game tens of thousands of people are playing but they haven't even announced yet.

Stephen Totilo reports around half (50 or so staff) of the existing Tango Gameworks team is carrying over to the new entity.

https://www.gamefile.news/p/animal-well-interview-billy-basso

While you'd like that to be larger (allowing for those who've found new work or opportunities in the meantime), it still is encouraging that a fair chunk of the team will be working on what comes next - presumably Hi-Fi Rush 2.