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Tango Gameworks will live on, as Microsoft has reached an agreement with publisher Krafton to maintain the studio. Krafton Inc, known for games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has fully acquired Tango Gameworks from Xbox, as well as the the rights to recent action hit Hi-Fi Rush.
Microsoft announced that it would close Tango Gameworks earlier this year, as part of a round of layoffs that saw a few other Xbox game studios closed. Tango was known for games like the aforementioned high-octane rhythm-brawler Hi-Fi Rush, as well as survival horror franchise The Evil Within. Tango was initially established in 2010 by Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame, with the studio coming across to Microsoft as part of the ZeniMax acquisition.
Krafton Inc. shared a press release detailing its plans for Tango Gameworks, as well as the future of the Hi-Fi Rush franchise.
"Krafton Inc today welcomed the talented people of Tango Gameworks to their team, marking a exciting moment in the company's global expansion and its first significant investment in the Japanese video game market," the press release reads. "This strategic move will include the rights to Tango Gameworks' acclaimed IP, Hi-Fi RUSH."
Krafton continued, "As part of this strategic agreement, KRAFTON intends to collaborate with Xbox and ZeniMax to ensure a smooth transition and maintain continuity at Tango Gameworks, allowing the talented team to continue developing the Hi-Fi RUSH IP and explore future projects. KRAFTON intends to support the Tango Gameworks team to continue its commitment to innovation and delivering fresh and exciting experiences for fans."
The fact Hi-Fi Rush is heading across also heavily suggests that a sequel will most likely emerge from the partnership. However, franchises like Ghostwire: Tokyo, and The Evil Within will remain with Microsoft, at least for now. Both Krafton and Microsoft emphasized that there will be no impact on the existing catalog of games, which will remain available in Xbox Game Pass and other storefronts they're presently on.
In a statement to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson shared the following: "We’re working with Krafton to enable the team at Tango Gameworks to continue to build games together and we look forward to playing their next great game. There will be no impact to the existing catalog of Tango games."
I've genuinely never heard about Krafton Inc. before, and only briefly skimmed its Wikipedia page upon reading these news, but it just seems like your average investing company (which is suffering a bit from Chinese regulations despite being Korean, as it gets a lot of backing from TenCent) but at the very least this might mean the entire studio won't be gutted and split apart. They sure do love bringing up the Hi Fi Rush name in that newspiece, which we don't even need to pretend is the entire reason Tango is even being considered at all.