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 sport. In a brand new interview, Krafton CEO Changhan Kim defined the reasoning behind the last-minute buy of the studio after it was initially closed by Microsoft and the way it desires the developer to be a artistic powerhouse with out concern of failure.
“We will not purchase Tango Gameworks based mostly on their financials or their numbers, proper? We do not assume Hi-Fi Rush 2 goes to make us cash, to be frank,” Kim mentioned to Game Developer. “But it is a part of our try. We have now to maintain making an attempt [to develop games] within the spirit of challenge-taking. Tango Gameworks are artistic. They need to attempt one thing new, and we need to do extra of that. [Making] video video games is mostly a hit-or-miss business, and that’s risk-taking. But having extra undertaking lineups is definitely a strategy to mitigate danger, as a result of certainly one of them would possibly work out.”
Whereas the studio’s acquisition remains to be being finalized, Kim did reveal just a few fascinating particulars round it. Microsoft offered the studio and solely the Hi-Fi Rush IP to Krafton in order that there could be a fast turnaround within the change of possession. Kim mentioned that buying all of Tango’s IP would have taken too lengthy and would have sophisticated the deal. “We needed to assist the group proceed growing their video games, however particularly Hi-Fi Rush. After I take into consideration our followers, I feel what they actually care about is Hi-Fi Rush sequels,” Kima added.
The precise numbers behind the acquisition aren’t being disclosed, however Kim did point out that the general greenback quantity was “probably not essential to Microsoft” when the deal was accredited. As issues fall into place, Krafton will work on serving to the studio rescale–around half of the event group because it existed below Microsoft was introduced over–and presumably broaden to work on different tasks as nicely.
The corporate additionally views this as an opportunity to nurture creativity inside its studios, because it plans to have its groups “create one thing new and proceed their journey” as a substitute of chasing massive hits with each single launch. “Hi-Fi Rush may need introduced in a bit little bit of a minus by way of the financials, but it surely’s a group that ought to be inspired to create one thing new and proceed their journey,” Kim mentioned. “We need to have extra groups like that below our umbrella.”