Hi-Fi RUSH ended up being one of the best Xbox surprises of all time when it shadow dropped on Game Pass earlier this year, but if Microsoft had never acquired Bethesda, it seems there's a chance it might have skipped Xbox entirely.
Speaking to GameSpot recently, Hi-Fi RUSH game director John Johanas revealed that platforms were "undecided" prior to the acquisition, and therefore the decision was much easier to make when the takeover went through:
"[The team was] undecided on platforms right as this was happening, and then it was like, 'Okay, Xbox, that was easy'."
"It's not that we had something working, and we just shelved it or anything like that."
That last comment appears to be referring to the fact that a PS5 (or PS4) version wasn't necessarily in the plans prior to the acquisition, although considering Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo both became timed exclusives for PlayStation before the deal was announced, there's a chance Hi-Fi RUSH could have ended up the same way.
Obviously it didn't work out like that, and we're free to enjoy Tango Gameworks' outstanding musical adventure on Xbox Game Pass. If you haven't played this one yet, you really should - it's a Game of the Year contender in our book!
Here's a bit more of what happened after the acquisition according to Johanas:
"Legitimately, there was no change. We just kept making it, and we didn't get any feedback from Microsoft in the sense of changing something."
"At that point, realistically, our game was pretty much solidified into what it was."