View: https://youtu.be/pG4UxqRMNX0
I thought people might find this interesting to see how this unique game was created.
GDC: Developing 'Hi-Fi RUSH' Backwards and Finding Our Positive Gameplay Loop
- Thread starter Coolade
- Start date
View: https://youtu.be/pG4UxqRMNX0
I thought people might find this interesting to see how this unique game was created.
Nobody bought it. Which wasn't supposed to matter because.. Game Pass!! It was supposed to allow these kinds of games to thrive regardless. Damn shame indeed.
Johanas is a true talent.
Arkane Austin is up there too if I'm being honest, it's just because of Redfall that people are, I guess, more "understanding" of that closure.
Imagine closing such a talented studio with such a talented game director with incredibly promising trajectory. Unbelievable. Thanks Xbox and Microsoft for destroying Tango Gameworks for no reason (and Shinji Mikami's work by the way).
I was one of the few that pointed out how it should have been announced at the TGAs 2022, the month before it released and when Xbox had nothing there, and people told me in droves how the shadow drop strategy was a stroke of brilliance. It wasn't, they completely set the game up for failure with the zero marketing behind it
They weren't shutdown because nobody bought it. They were shutdown because they released a game and were pitching new ones.
Which is even worst really. It means it has nothing to do with talent.
Grats on shipping a game, you are fired!
THE AIAS GAME MAKER'S NOTEBOOK Creating a Rhythm-Action Game with Hi-Fi Rush Director John Johanas
This was a generally excellent podcast / interview from the before times that covers similar ground with more banter.
This was a generally excellent podcast / interview from the before times that covers similar ground with more banter.
I know we cant take anything said about this game at face value, but Johannes repeatedly said it was his idea. I don't think an announce trailer a month earlier would've changed things much, if at all--it would need a major marketing push, the kind Xbox never does, for a game that as brilliant as it is, is at the weird intersection of two niche genres. Just a trailer and some IGN previews wouldn't do much, even had all else been the same.
Like, I can see a month of youtube thinkpieces on WTH is Tango doing, they're the horror studio (even if that is not true), without actually building hype.
Millions of people watching the TGAs would have noticed it existed, there would have been tons of discussions on Xbox "doing a game like that!?" leading to the launch. Announcing it at some January Xbox direct and releasing it the same day was a kiss of death
And I think those discussions would've been negative. Because it's super niche--imagine the countless videos taking the (very cut down) trailer gags, talking about annoying whedonesque dialogue. I don't think hype would spread, because HFR really, really comes together on playing it. "Comedy rhythmn DMC" as a pitch doesn't sound great.
Honestly, I think not launching as multiplatform did more to kill it than the shadow drop. if it hit PS5 when the excitement over it was at a fever pitch, it mightve sold more there, since character actions bigger there.
Like having people talking about your game does not mean it would automatically be positive. I'd imagine a ton of the engagement would be negative, not positive.
Nah, this is just not a very convincing "Imagine how bad it would have been if they had done THAT instead?" when the reality is what they actually did had the studio shutdown due to how badly the game flopped. This is before they even entertained the idea of ever going multiplatform with their games, at least publicly. The TGAs was a great window to do a surprise announcement of the game have a few weeks of hype and discussion leading to the launch. The problem was they didnt want to spend the money to push it, and look what happened.
goddamit, Johanas made an incredible debut, and this is how they pay him =/Imagine closing such a talented studio with such a talented game director with incredibly promising trajectory. Unbelievable. Thanks Xbox and Microsoft for destroying Tango Gameworks for no reason (and Shinji Mikami's work by the way).
My thing is, I do not see someone who is so plugged into gaming that they will watch the TGAs see one trailer out of the dozens, get hype and proselytize it for a month nonstop...YET at the same time pays so little attention to gaming that the miss literally every outlet on the planet going nuts about how terrific HI Fi Rush is. I can see the opposite of dozens of "who asked for THIS?" videos and click bait.
A trailer a month earlier wouldn't reach some unwashed masses who would never hear of the game otherwise, because if you're watching the TGAs, youre already plugged in. Even if you missed the Xbox showcase, you weren't going to miss the tidal wave of 9/10 reviews. To reach the folks who would miss that hype they'd need a BIG marketing push. Like... for months, about the only point of discussion in the Xbox sphere was HFR. If you missed the hype, a TGA trailer wouldn't reach you. Getting that going a month earlier wouldn't suddenly make it break into the mainstream, unless you did a media blitz of the kind Microsoft barely does for its bigger titles.
That's my thing, to actually make Hi-Fi big, they'd either need to invest in a marketing campaign for an AAA production, or release it of PS5 and hope the hype drove engagement there.
Both of these seem like the obvious better course in hindsight, obviously. But just announcing the game wouldnt.
Tango can't. It's dead. Johannes and other team members can and should.
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This team created an incredible genre mashup with so much heart and soul.
You just can't say "Fuck Microsoft" loudly enough.
You just can't say "Fuck Microsoft" loudly enough.
Imagine closing such a talented studio with such a talented game director with incredibly promising trajectory. Unbelievable. Thanks Xbox and Microsoft for destroying Tango Gameworks for no reason (and Shinji Mikami's work by the way).
Capcom should snatch this guy up. I could see him doing so well with so many of their properities.
I think people are going to have to come to terms that their favorite gaming company probably is not going to let who ever they hire make their own games or even become a lead of their library.
Like, whatever brand new games Capcom been making has been slow in releasing or returning, less popular series being some being some rehash or redux (hey, you could make the case of Dragon's Dogma 2 being that :3). Because as much as I am a big fan of RESIDENTEVIL/MONSTERHUNTER/STREETFIGHTER, those projects have been the MADDEN/FIFA/NHL of that company since... 2017 would be the easy answer but maybe when Monster Hunter World blew up the world? When Street Fighter V stopped sucking? Anyways, the output of anything else that reaches those series' level has been too slow for me to be convinced that might change for the remaining generation.
Yeah, this is a downer of a prospect (and potential derailment) but the point I'm trying to make is the people who were Tango Gameworks are better off starting anew if they still want to make the games they want to make because even if John was hired by Capcom, it is likely he'll just be put into the Resident Evil mines (to design mine levels).