Microsoft Deserves Some Credit For Selling Tango Instead Of Closing

Microsoft selling off Tango Gameworks rather than closing them is a welcome sight, and a rarity in gaming

[-Foxtrot]

Are we really trying to spin this…

[darthv72]

In light of the ready at dawn situation.... yes. Meta should have sold to someone else who could appreciate them. At least MS has done just that here. The silver lining is Tango can continue on and make a Rush 2 if they want to. RAD... not so much.

[Jin_Sakai]

Here you go deflecting. The moral of the story is that Microsoft should’ve kept Tango Gameworks because they made one of the best games on Xbox this generation.

[darthv72]

^^no disagreement there jin. However I seem to recall this was Bethesda's call... not MS, but MS being the overall higher up the food chain should have done more to ensure their survival. But (and this is not deflecting, it is comparing) at the very least they have given Tango a fighting chance by letting another outfit take over instead of just putting them out on the streets (like Meta did with RAD).

[Tacoboto]

Microsoft should've kept a studio that they had no idea how to manage?

[Michiel1989]

@darth if that were the case, bethesda can't make those decisions on their own and even if they did, bethesda is now an extension of microsoft whether we want it or not. They might still be mostly autonomous for the most part, but a major decision like canning a studio is not something they can do without MS agreeing with it, if you think otherwise idk what to say.

[Cacabunga]

How do you know that they can continue HFR if they want to.. new owner new direction. I hope not especially if it’s mobile game or gaas but it happens often lately..

Let’s wait and see what they’ll decide of Ninja Theory.. I’m waiting for them to go independent again they are brilliant developers

[Obscure_Observer]

"In light of the ready at dawn situation.... yes. Meta should have sold to someone else who could appreciate them. At least MS has done just that here. The silver lining is Tango can continue on and make a Rush 2 if they want to. RAD... not so much."

This!

[Jin_Sakai]

@Tacoboto

“Microsoft should've kept a studio that they had no idea how to manage?“

If they can’t manage a small studio that made on of the best Xbox games of this generation then Microsoft should exit the gaming business.

[Hotpot]

???

Krafton gets the credit because they're the one who actually SAVES the studio. This ass company called MS reported a profit increase, even after excluding ABK acquisition, yet somehow closed their award winning studio.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

@Tacoboto,
They could just let the developer have free-reign within reason, HiFi Rush was supposedly in production before Microsoft bought them. But I get the feeling that Microsoft might like to meddle too much with their studios, which may or may not be true.

[Einhander1972]

Tacoboto

Microsoft shouldn't have bought studios they weren't going to support, and lets not forget this was one of 4 studios they closed down.

[VariantAEC]

@tacoboto
Uh, well, here's a thoght... If MS didn't know how to manage any of these devs, they shouldn't have moved to acquire them!

[Michiel1989]

it's a terrible thing that happened but at least the people there have an opportunity to keep their jobs, I think that's worth mentioning for sure although I wouldn't go as far as giving them credit for it.

[VenomUK]

Before the announcement of the sell-off Microsoft had said nothing about it, just that it was closing the studio down, Matt Booty wrote: “ TangoGameworks will also close”. So I think after the initial backlash Phil Spencer and MS decided to try and find a buyer. Good guy Phil! He doesn’t get enough credit for being the goodest of good guys.

https://www.ign.com/article...

[IAMRealHooman]

should of closed 343, kept tango. One can make good games

[DodoDojo]

343s watered down Halo games are more profitable sadly.

[The Wood]

They really are. You wouda thought it was penned by destin

[Zeref]

Yes. Too often have we seen talented studios get closed and franchises lost.
Microsoft went through the effort of looking for a buyer instead of closing it and now we can get Hi-Fi Rush 2.

[-Foxtrot]

Lmao

We have no idea if MS actual shopped them around. If so they’d have gladly came out and said they were looking for buyers to calm down backlash and that would have been good PR but they didn’t

If anything people like Krafton approached them.

[Einhander1972]

This was one of four closed studios.

[Zeref]

@-Foxtrot

Sure they did. Xbox evil. MS evil. hurrdurr. We get it.

[Jin_Sakai]

Microsoft should’ve give them credit for making such a great game and greenlit their next title. Instead they did the complete opposite and sold them off. 🤦‍♂️

[Obscure_Observer]

It´s better than kill them off, like most publishers do.

[__y2jb]

You would defend literally anything Microsoft did wouldn't you? Literally anything.

[robtion]

I agree but to be fair Sony should have done the same thing with Ready at Dawn and The Order.

[Jin_Sakai]

“I agree but to be fair Sony should have done the same thing with Ready at Dawn and The Order.“

While The Order: 1886 had its fair share of fans it had no where near the reception that HI-FI Rush had.

The Order: 1886
Metascore - 63
User Score - 6.8

Hi-Fi Rush
Metascore - 87
User Score - 8.8

[robtion]

@Jin_Sakai Yes but The Order is a far better game. Interesting how meta scores don't always mean much.

I also think The Evil Within and its sequel were amazing games. Not surprised MS dropped Tango though. MS doesn't generally do well with Japanese devs.

[Pepsi_Man3000]

"The order is a far better game"

LMFAO

[Zeref]

They did give them credit. If it wasn't for Hi-Fi Rush they would have just closed them.

[purple101]

microsoft deserve to get ripped into, every single day, until they produce a string of 9/10, or 10/10 games, in a row,
just they like promised

[TwoPicklesGood]

Nah 😂

[Christopher]

No. Just No.

[darthv72]

....you'd rather they end up like RAD? That could have happened. At least this way is better than the other.

[Christopher]

I'm not praising someone for doing what shouldn't have happened at all. This is the lesser of two evils solely because Microsoft put them in the position after creating banger games for them and lauding them for such games.

[Chevalier]

Xbox deflecting shields engaged.

Here's something interesting Uncharted 1 first month sales were only 50,000 and Sony instead of bailing and canceling the series they nurtured it into a Blockbuster. Nintendo did the same nurturing Fire Emblem and Pokemon. So no let's not credit Xbox for anything of the sort. Xbox is short sited and have no clue about how to build up franchises from the ground up. They literally just buy games far in development or already have a built in fan base.

[heisenwalterberg]

Absolutely not, bootlicker

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Studios like Tango, Toys for Bob and Arkane Austin were not a major factor in Microsoft recent acquisitions of ABK and Bethesda. The smaller studios game with the bigger studios (Bethesda Stuidos, ID, Blizzard, Infinity Ward and Treyarch). Tango, was fortunate enough to have an interested buyer. I personally think MS should have kept the Hi-Fi Rush ip, but then again I’m not a business executive or financial analyst.

[lodossrage]

When Sony sold Sony Online Entertainment rather than closing it, where was that opinion fluff piece?

In case anyone isn't aware, Daybreak is the former Sony Online Entertainment.

[jznrpg]

They weren’t going to close it down first before they sold it. There is a difference. Nice try at deflection though

[lodossrage]

What deflection?

Someone is literally writing a fluff piece saying Microsoft should be praised for selling off a developer they were going to close. When in fact, said developer is only in this position in the first place because Microsoft is trying to buy up the biggest players in the industry.

And the fact that you admit Sony WASN'T going to close SOE down before selling it makes Microsoft look worse.

If anyone deserves any credit, it would be Krafton, not Microsoft.

Nice try at deflection though.

[Cockney]

Are you both misreading each others comments?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Nope

[gold_drake]

no why?

this is MS's problem. they dont nurture studios, and this is why thwy dont have games

[MrDead]

It gives hope to the industry knowing it's possible to escape MSs mass consolidation. Fingers crossed more studios can be saved from MS... as for giving MS credit, no. Thousands of devs would still be working if it wasn't for MS consolidating the industry.

[CrimsonWing69]

Except they didn't sell the Evil Within IP? So... no credit will be given.

[shadowT]

Thank you Phil Spencer

[shinoff2183]

Did Ms put it up for sale or were they approached

[Knightofelemia]

So Tango got sold the new owners can still turn around fire the staff and shut down the studio. And Embracer may have bought a lot of studios. But look at them now they are literally bleeding money. They went around buying up studios left right and center with out an actual plan. And the older Saints Row will always be better then the woke remake

[Michiel1989]

they have literally no incentive to do that because they didn't get any ips with it.

[Fishy Fingers]

Kept the IPs (the main driver for any acquisition) and managed to sell the studio they were going to shutdown anyway.

Thats some heart right there.

[Hofstaderman]

Thats classic MS. Acquire, gut and dispose.

[Inverno]

They wouldn't have been shutting down if not for MS throwing money around trying to buy the industry one publisher at a time!

[FTLmaster]

*eyeroll*

[Stay-Toasty]

Cept they kept all their ips😭

[badz149]

I might not have been reading too much on this purchase but I did read that Tango will ve avle to continue working with the Hifi Rush if I didn't read it wrong. So did they at least sold Tango with that 1 IP or what?

[jznrpg]

From what I read it’s just Hi Fi

[badz149]

So Tango retains the rights for HFR? That's kinda nice

[VersusDMC]

I assume Microsoft is now getting paid for Tango instead of paying everyone severance so i don't know why they deserve a high five for that.

And it's not that uncommon either as gearbox got sold to take two and Crystal Dynamics to Embracer recently.

[DOMination-]

There was really no point for MS to keep Tango because as we all know, they have no presence in Japan. Having one random studio there where the main guy already left wasn't ever going to change that.

Never a fan of closing studios, especially when MS can clearly afford to keep them all open but this probably ends up working out best for everyone.

[ChasterMies]

What shit is this? The buyer deserves credit for not letting Tango close. Microscoft is profiting off of this.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

At the cope a... cope a cabana 🎶

[anast]

This is some supernatural cope with a touch of sleaze.

[tagzskie]

No sh*t sherlock! as a business perspective selling is better than throwing in trash can. This xboys talking RAD but if i remember correctly ready at dawn still making games even when theyre not in sony's camp (a childish game with lots of color) if i remember correctly, its just it didnt click thats all and no ones like to buy them as a studios. I dont know if these xboys are dumb or just defending ms but this kind of move is not praise worthy. What happened to those saying THEYRE UNDER MS NOW ITS A GOOD THING UNLIMITED BUDGET FOR GAMES bullsh*t

[PhillyDonJawn]

I was under the impression they were shut down. Yeah being sold is always better than closed down. So they get some respect points returned

[jznrpg]

If there wasn’t a purchaser they would have been killed off. This isn’t MS’s credit it’s Krafton for coming in and saving Tango and the employees jobs

[CrashMania]

This guy is such an MS suck up, Phil could shoot a puppy and he'd spin in to somehow being a good thing.

[Sircolby45]

Deserves some credit? What? Yeah, MS SOLD a company out of the goodness of their hearts lol. This was a calculated business decision on what was best for the bottom line.

[Pyrofire95]

erm I guess??? What they didn't wasn't the literal worst thing they could have done. Congrats MS.

[Ronin-Z]

No credit deserved. They did not do anything special. Someone saw the potential of the studio and made an offer. Of course Microsoft was going to take the money. Rather sell if someone wants it than just close and lose. Ready at dawn probably had no offers from elsewhere given they have been focused on vr and not Alot of companies care. It was just business

[Fonsecap]

They went from complete assholes for just plain stupid, so yeah they deserve the credit, at least some jobs can be saved.

[SoloGamer1]

no they dont.

[dveio]

"You're fired! Look, we've only made $30bn profit this year, can't afford ya!

Oh and on your way out, please leave your IPs on the table over there. But you can take that ... what's it called ... oh yeah ... FiHi Push with ya!"

Xbox fan opinion:

"Man, they truly deserve some credit, so generous, so nice, wow."

[MetroidFREAK21]

No. They don't

[Markusb33]

Can we just stop please, these companies are not our friends and they dont need articles like this, they made a business choice and they keep making them, wrong or right but they are not some white knight, this is beyond ridiculas

[Terry_B]

Seriously..wtf.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Tango made THE best exclusive for the XsX, and they still got all of their projects canceled…

And I’m supposed to give M$ and high-five for at least making a buck off of their waste of talent?

Gtfo M$. Go make Stalker 2 multiplatform for me.

[jznrpg]

Stalker 2 is a timed exclusive. It was 3 months last I read.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I sure hope so. I’m glad M$ saved that game from limbo, I’ll high five them for that.

[talocaca]

Lol...no. It really sounds like "I'm gonna beat you up but then I will take you to the hospital 🥰".

Microsoft has been doing this for decades now....

[TheColbertinator]

No

[Crows90]

They didn't really sell tango. They sold the team mostly.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

They don't deserve anything lmaooo
They just planned to close it and someone heard the news and made an offer and MS saw an opportunity to make profit on something that was supposed to close them. This article is dumb

[InUrFoxHole]

Like how people act like Tango was some great dev studio. They made mid games at best. Then made a game that was pretty good but not good enough to sell or get gamers to complete. Glad they get to keep going though. More companies including MS should sell instead of closing out right

[VincentVanBro]

This just in, Microsoft only spit in their face, but they didn’t punch them! 👏 heroes amirite?

[Pepsi_Man3000]

Tis a far better outcome than what's happened with a lot of studios from the past and I'm glad it happened but I still don't believe they needed to shut them down in the first place. Should I be glad you paid for my hospital bill when you shot me and put me there in the first place?

[PrecursorOrb]

Well they didn’t crap the bed twice in the same night so it’s cool and stuff