Following its acquisition of Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks, Krafton already has plans in place for a sequel to the critically acclaimed rhythm-action game. In a new interview, Krafton CEO Changhan Kim explained the reasoning behind the last-minute purchase of the studio after it was originally closed by Microsoft and how it wants the developer to be a creative powerhouse without fear of failure.
“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,” Kim said to Game Developer. “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.”
While the studio’s acquisition is still being finalized, Kim did reveal a few interesting details around it. Microsoft sold the studio and only the Hi-Fi Rush IP to Krafton so that there would be a quick turnaround in the change of ownership. Kim said that acquiring all of Tango’s IP would have taken too long and would have complicated the deal. “We 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,” Kima added.
The exact numbers behind the acquisition aren’t being disclosed, but Kim did mention that the overall dollar amount was “not really important to Microsoft” when the deal was approved. As things fall into place, Krafton will work on helping the studio rescale–around half of the development team as it existed under Microsoft was brought over–and possibly expand to work on other projects as well.
The company also views this as a chance to nurture creativity within its studios, as it plans to have its teams “create something new and continue their journey” instead of chasing big hits with every single release. “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,” Kim said. “We want to have more teams like that under our umbrella.”
