Hi-Fi RUSH turned out to be an absolute banger of a shadow drop last month, with developer Tango Gameworks delivering one of the highlights of the year so far right onto Xbox Game Pass. While the title was in production well before Xbox bought owner Bethesda, the team has had positive things to say about Microsoft's involvement, or lack thereof, in development.
In a new interview with outlet UnGeek, game director John Johanas touched on what it meant to work with Xbox as Hi-Fi RUSH development was coming to a close.
"The acquisition happened, so that made it a bit easier for us because we were able to focus on which platforms it will be released to help us polish the experience.
Other than that, it really didn’t have any effect on the development.
In that sense, the experience with Xbox was positive, because there was no interference in a good way. They were like ‘go ahead with what you think sounds cool.’"
Johanas reiterated that Microsoft is keen to keep Bethesda running pretty much as it did pre-acquisition, which is something we've heard directly from Xbox in the past. While we'd like to see Microsoft build more teams from the ground-up, it's good to see the the company stays hands-off when needed.
Bethesda's next pre-acquisition project to see the light of day will be Arkane's Redfall, which launches on Xbox Game Pass in May. Let's hope a similar stance was taken there - just like Tango, we trust in Arkane to deliver something great!