Hero Dice, the Tango Gameworks mobile game that launched back in March, is shutting down after just five months of operation. As of today, it's no longer possible to buy in-game items, and Hero Dice will completely cease operations in August.
Why is this Tango Gameworks mobile game shutting down?
Tango Gameworks didn't give a reason for shutting down Hero Dice, but it's pretty easy to guess that the game wasn't profitable for the studio. The game launched back in March after being announced with a suitably colorful trailer depicting some of its over-the-top RPG-inflected board game battling, but it looks like the enthusiasm that went into making that trailer simply wasn't shared by the player base. You can no longer buy items within Hero Dice on either iOS or Android, and the game will shut down completely in August, so you'll no longer be able to play it. Hero Dice was never released in the West, and it looks like now, we might know why.
What is Tango Gameworks?
Tango Gameworks was founded by industry legend Shinji Mikami back in 2010, with its first game being the Resident Evil 4-inspired survival horror The Evil Within in 2014. The studio would follow that game up with 2017's The Evil Within 2, which further explored the original game's dream world concept. Tango Gameworks' most recent title is the horror-inflected action game Ghostwire: Tokyo, which garnered plenty of internet attention thanks to staffer Ikumi Nakamura's spirited and likable demonstration of the game at the 2019 E3 conference (although Nakamura has since departed Tango).
Earlier this year, Shinji Mikami told Famitsu (with translation by VGC) that he wanted Tango Gameworks to work on smaller projects and to branch out from horror. Given the performance of Hero Dice, it doesn't look like gamers agree with him, although that might be unfair given that Hero Dice is the studio's first smaller non-horror outing. It remains to be seen whether Mikami and Tango Gameworks can turn things around with their next project, but in the meantime, you can check out Ghostwire: Tokyo right now on PC and consoles.
