Hi-Fi Rush dev hits back at Microsoft exec calling for more award-winning games with their own awards: "Not enough?"

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The comment certainly raised eyebrows

Tango Gameworks/@ega1002 via Twitter
(Image credit: Tango Gameworks/@ega1002 via Twitter)

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.

In the wake of Microsoft shutting down four Bethesda-owned studios earlier this week, including the Tokyo-based Tango Gameworks, one Xbox executive reportedly asked for "smaller games that give us prestige and awards" in an internal meeting. Hi-Fi Rush's director reacted to the news with something akin to a massive eyeroll, and now another Tango Gameworks developer has responded.

Posting on his personal Twitter account, former Tango Gameworks project manager Kazuaki Egashira tweeted out images of the awards Hi-Fi Rush had won over the past year from around the gaming industry, with the caption "not enough?" Egashira's message is a direct response to the Xbox executive requesting more award-winning games.

Hi-Fi Rush won a total of five developer awards over the course of 2023. The awards include one for animation from BAFTA Games, audio/sound awards from the CEDEC, Game Awards, and Game Developer's Choice awards, and the Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game from the New York Game Awards. That's to say nothing of outlet-granted awards.

Hi-Fi Rush players have been mourning the game, and the studio that made it, over the past week, wondering how anyone could possibly be safe from cuts from corporations that were able to shutter an award-winning and beloved studio. Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, who founded Tango Gameworks and departed the studio just last year, called the move "sad."

Elsewhere, an Xbox president swerved questions about closing Hi-Fi Rush and Prey teams, saying "success for each game and studio is really unique."

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.