The workforce at Tango Gameworks have been via rather a lot these previous couple of years. High on the shock launch of their extremely acclaimed 2023 hit Hi-Fi Rush, the studio was all of the sudden closed down in May, inflicting uproar amongst sport followers world wide. Then, in August, it was introduced that South Korea’s PUBG writer Krafton had reached an settlement to amass Tango, together with Hi-Fi Rush, granting the studio a brand new lease of life.
Amid such dramatic twists and turns, Tango has retained a lot of its workers for this new iteration. IGN spoke with studio head Colin Mack, inventive director / Hi-Fi Rush director John Johanas, and improvement director / Hi-Fi Rush venture supervisor Kazuaki Egashira about their plans for Tango Gameworks going ahead.
Despite earlier experiences that Hi-Fi Rush 2 is in improvement, Mack clarified that the workforce are nonetheless contemplating their choices earlier than they decide to a sequel. That is to say, the workforce had beforehand been engaged on a sequel on the time of the acquisition, and it appears fairly possible that they’ll proceed to take action, however at this stage a sequel shouldn’t be assured.
“We are contemplating a sequel positively,” Mack advised IGN. “We usually are not but on the stage the place we are able to say particularly, ‘This is what we will do.’ ”
Johanas added: “Many of our workers have lots of love for [Hi-Fi Rush], so we really feel like we have now choices. We’re at present on the stage of contemplating numerous alternatives.”
From The Evil Within to Ghostwire: Tokyo and eventually Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks is thought for creating model new video games, and plainly this tradition nonetheless persists within the studio’s newest incarnation beneath Krafton. Egashira defined that creating new experiences is “within the DNA of Tango Gameworks.”
“Hi-Fi Rush turned widespread as a brand new IP, but when Hi-Fi Rush had been to remain the identical eternally, it will finally change into outdated,” he mentioned. “I feel Tango Gameworks is about taking over new challenges. I hope to proceed to work in a means that places builders on the middle, with out dropping our ardour.”
“Not solely me, however most of the improvement workers have a robust attachment to Hi-Fi Rush,” mentioned Johanas. “Not solely the sport but additionally the characters and the world are beloved by us, so I need to cherish this IP.
“On the opposite hand, it is vital to strive new issues. I labored on The Evil Within, directed its DLC, after which directed the sequel The Evil Within 2. I do not suppose I might have made yet one more horror sport at that time, as a result of there’s solely a lot you are able to do with the identical materials. It’s dangerous to strive one thing utterly totally different, certain — however I feel a sequel to a collection can also be a danger in itself.”
Krafton’s acquisition of Tango Gameworks happened when the studio members, confronted with imminent closure, started searching for a purchaser. Krafton was proactive in courting the workforce and moved extraordinarily rapidly to suggest and finalize the acquisition, permitting most of the workers to remain collectively. “I’m glad that we had been in a position to proceed making video games collectively whereas maintaining the DNA of Tango Gameworks intact, quite than ranging from scratch once more,” mentioned Johanas, highlighting how the workforce’s chemistry was constructed up over years of working collectively, and performed an enormous half within the success of Hi-Fi Rush.
The studio at present has round 50 staff, and Mack says they’ll start recruitment in late December or January 2025, with a view to rising to round 100 individuals. This will permit them to concentrate on making one sport at a time whereas additionally experimenting with new tasks on the facet, very like how Hi-Fi Rush was initially created.
Johanas additionally recalled recommendation given to him by Shinji Mikami, the legendary developer who based Tango Gameworks in 2010 earlier than leaving in 2023 after the discharge of Hi-Fi Rush. Mikami was eager to foster new expertise at Tango, and Johanas basically turned certainly one of his apprentices, influencing his views on how the studio will proceed into the long run.
“I discovered from Mr Mikami that it is necessary for a director to debate concepts for a sport with their workforce quite than giving orders, and to make the sport collectively,” Johanas mentioned. “He typically mentioned that for those who make a sport like a bonsai tree, it might take the form the director had in thoughts, however every of the event workers is not going to really feel their output is mirrored. In that sense, freedom is essential. Of course, it’s needed for the director to resolve the general route, however we have now at all times valued an surroundings the place the workers can create freely, quite than one the place they’re solely allowed to as they’re advised. It’s nearer to the expansion of a tree in nature than a bonsai tree.
“Mikami locations a excessive stage of belief in his workers, which is why so many people have stayed at Tango Gameworks for thus lengthy. I hope to proceed this tradition of freedom sooner or later.”
For info on recruitment at Tango Gameworks, take a look at Krafton’s recruitment site. Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan.
