Krafton CEO Changhan Kim says that he doesn't think Hi-Fi Rush 2 will be profitable for the company, but in a refreshing and surprising change of tone from regular corporate CEOs, he says that's not a problem.
Speaking to Game Developer, Kim says that Hi-Fi Rush 2 potentially not being profitable is "part of our attempt", and that Krafton has to keep trying to make games "in the spirit of challenge-taking".
He describes Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks as "creative", saying that the studio wants "to try something new" and that Krafton wants "to do more of that". Kim says developing games is about taking risks, but that having more project lineups "mitigate[s] risk, because one of them might work out".
Kim goes on to say that while he doesn't know how much Hi-Fi Rush made for Microsoft (even though Aaron Greenberg described it as a "break out hit"), "the IP itself was very fresh", featuring "new types of gameplay".
For Kim, it sounds like that's the more important element here; that Hi-Fi Rush was "not a game a lot of studios were making". He says Krafton shouldn't be aiming to deliver what Game Developer refers to as an "infinite procession of chart-topping hits".
Instead, remarkably, Kim says Krafton should be looking to "break even" and "recoup the production costs". He says he doesn't "trust people" who say a game is going to be a hit; rather, he wants "someone who can try something new".
I can only speak for myself, but Kim's comments fill me with a mixture of elation and suspicion. It's incredibly refreshing to hear an exec talk like this in the modern era, which, in turn, makes me wonder what the catch might be. Hopefully, there isn't one!
If you need reminding, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks was ostensibly shut down by former parent company Microsoft earlier this year, along with Redfall studio Arkane Austin. Incidentally, Xbox followed this by saying publicly that it needed "smaller games" on its slate. Good optics!
All seemed lost for Tango and Hi-Fi Rush, but in August, PUBG and The Callisto Protocol publisher Krafton swept in and purchased Tango Gameworks, along with the Hi-Fi Rush IP, declaring plans to have Tango create more Hi-Fi Rush works in the future.
Given Krafton's comments about Hi-Fi Rush 2, it seems a sequel to the smash hit rhythm-action game is an inevitability. Stay tuned for more on this, and in the meantime, you can read our review of the original Hi-Fi Rush here.
