Resident Evil creator and Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami has shared his thoughts on the announced closure of the renowned game studio. On May 7, Microsoft revealed that it was shutting down four Bethesda studios: Redfall developer Arkane Austin, mobile studio Alpha Dog Games, Roundhouse Studios, and Tango Gameworks.
While some people seemed unsurprised about the closure of Arkane Austin, given the poor reception of Redfall, Tango’s shutdown was much more unexpected. Four of the five titles developed by the Japan-based studio — The Evil Within 1 and 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the surprise rhythm-based hit Hi-Fi Rush — have been extremely well received, with many fans clamoring for new entries in all three franchises.
So, as gamers mourn the closure of Tango Gameworks and the potential loss of any follow-ups to its hit games, studio founder Shinji Mikami also expressed dismay at the announcement on Twitter: “Tango closed. Sad.” It’s a message with few words, but it sums up the feelings of many fans, who were left a bit speechless at the unexpected turn of events.
The responses to Mikami's Twitter post echo his sentiment, with one person stating that though the company has closed, «the dream lives on.» Others expressed sympathy for how it must feel to witness the shutdown of a company that Mikami had built from the ground up and worked with for years, while many gamers asked the veteran developer to continue telling stories. One future-focused reader posited that crowdfunding may be the savior of indie game development, as the longevity of even major studios has become increasingly tenuous.
Shinji Mikami, credited as a creator of Capcom’s Resident Evil series, is considered by many to be an industry icon. Though Mikami left Tango Dreamworks in 2023, fans are interested to hear what he has to say about the closure of the studio that he founded in 2010 and worked at for over a decade. Within months of its opening, Tango Gameworks was acquired by Bethesda parent company ZeniMax, so when Microsoft bought ZeniMax in 2021, Tango went with it and became Microsoft’s first studio based in Japan.
In 2024, Microsoft began sweeping layoffs that affected multiple companies, many of which had recently been obtained via the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. These included Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games, Skylanders’ Toys for Bob, and Blizzard. Many people assumed that the layoffs would impact only Activision Blizzard studios, but it seems that is unfortunately not the case.
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
In a development you don't see every day, following the closure of Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, swarms of fans have expressed their outrage by positively review bombing the game on Steam. This reverse review bombing campaign has resulted in several thousand Positive new reviews rising to the top since the news of Bethesda's Microsoft-mandated restructure broke last week.
While developer Tango Gameworks has been shut down by Microsoft, the studio’s most recent title—Hi-Fi Rush—is getting one more update. Out today, the update is available on PS5 and PC, and brings with it a host of smaller bugs throughout the game. Check out the complete patch notes below for more details.
This week, Microsoft and Bethesda announced that they would be closing down multiple game development studios under their umbrella. These include Alpha Dog Games, maker of Mighty Doom, and Arkane Austin, developer of the disastrous Redfall among others. In the gaming industry, the conventional wisdom has long been held that bad games sink you and great games save you, which would lead many to drawing an unfortunate line between Redfall’s reception and Arkane Austin’s closure — but immediately stops supporting that conclusion when you get to Tango Gameworks.
Since Microsoft’s shuttering of developer Tango Gameworks, angry fans of the studio’s work have taken to bombarding the Steam listings for Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Evil Within and its sequel with reviews. Interestingly, while movements among fanbases like this typically opt to go with negative reviews, the Steam reviews for these games are incredibly positive.
Hi-Fi Rush fans are currently leaving tons of positive reviews on the game's Steam page, marking another community-driven instance of reverse-review bombing. The occurrence follows parent company Xbox's decision to shutter Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks.
A Tango Gameworks developer has reacted to an Xbox executive reportedly asking for more "smaller games that give us prestige and awards" with a picture of Hi-Fi Rush's awards.
Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were reportedly in the process of pitching sequels to Dishonored and Hi-Fi Rush before Xbox’s sudden closure of their studios on Tuesday. This news comes after learning more details surrounding the shutdown of three ZeniMax Media subsidiary studios, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks prominently among them.
In one of the most double-think statements ever made outside of George Orwell’s 1984, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has told employees that “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” just one day after closing down the game studio that was responsible for the prestigious award-winning game, Hi-Fi Rush.
The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft's Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn't finished.