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战斗力 鹅
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注册时间 2009-8-26
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原链接：
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-we-don-t-think-hi-fi-rush-2-is-going-to-make-us-money-krafton-ceo-says-tango-gameworks-acquisition-is-about-legacy
Krafton CEO Changhan 'CH' Kim has explained the acquisition of Tango Gameworks from Microsoft was a "last minute deal."
Speaking to Game Developer about the buyout, which will see Krafton acquire the Japanese studio and Hi-Fi Rush franchise, Kim said the deal was creatively rather than commercially motivated.
"We wanted to maintain their legacy," says Kim. "Although they did not have a big success in their games, we saw many creatives worth pursuing. That's why we wanted to work with that organization."
Kim says Krafton wanted to "acquire as many people as possible from Tango to continue their legacy," with the studio having been shuttered by Microsoft in May. The South Korean company, best known for developing PUBG, was also rather smitten with Hi-Fi Rush and sought to acquire the IP to develop sequels.
"Because Hi-Fi Rush fans really want to see sequels, we negotiated with Tango Gameworks' parent company [Microsoft] to acquire that IP as well," he continues. According to Kim, the sudden shutdown of Tango Gameworks left employees "anxious," which is pushing Krafton to complete the deal as soon as possible.
"We wanted to make sure the deal happen fast to minimize that gap in their career," he adds. Kim says the scale and complexity of a conglomerate like Microsoft meant it was difficult to move quickly, but noted the Xbox maker was "open" to the sale of both the studio and its IP.
Given Krafton felt the move was time sensitive, the company focused on purchasing the Hi-Fi Rush franchise as opposed to Tango's entire IP slate–which also includes The Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo.
"If we were to acquire all IPs, I think it's going to complicate the deal too much. Krafton is a pretty big company, but Microsoft is very complicated," he says. "We wanted to help the team continue developing their games, but especially Hi-Fi Rush. When I think about our fans, I think what they really care about is Hi-Fi Rush sequels."
The acquisition is still being finalized, preventing Kim from disclosing how much Krafton has spent on the Japanese studio. He did, however, describe the purchase as "not too expensive, or too cheap either."
"We cannot really translate the volume into money. It's more about the significance," he adds. "The dollar amount was not really important to Microsoft."
It was previously reported by Game File that Krafton has brought over 50 employees from Tango Gameworks, representing around half of the development team as it existed under Microsoft. The aim now is to help the studio rescale and perhaps even expand.
"I think a minimum of 100 people [is what we're aiming for]. We have to scale it to around that size. That's a minimum requirement to continue developing the franchise. Or perhaps they'll need a bigger team. We haven't decided on that, but we don't plan to reduce the size of the team at all," says Kim.
"They have to work on new projects as well, so there is a great possibility the team will scale up even further."
Krafton boss hoping to acquire more studios like Tango Gameworks
As for what expectations Krafton has for the studio, Kim hopes to champion creativity without fear of failure. He claims Krafton will strive to take risks to produce titles that feel innovative rather than derivative. "We're trying to increase our portfolio lineup and Tango Gameworks comes into play [there]," he says, noting that many of Tango's previous games "may not even have broken even."
"We can't acquire Tango Gameworks based on their financials or their numbers, right? We don't think Hi-Fi Rush 2 is going to make us money, to be frank," he continues. "But it's part of our attempt. We have to keep trying [to develop games] in the spirit of challenge-taking.
"Tango Gameworks are creative. They want to try something new, and we want to do more of that. [Making] video games is really a hit or miss industry, and that is risk taking. But having more project lineups is actually a way to mitigate risk, because one of them might work out."
When pressed on whether Hi-Fi Rush was a commercial success for Microsoft, Kim says he doesn't know exactly how much the game earned, but when considering production costs he feels it might not have delivered a substantial return.
"Did it add a lot of money to Microsoft? That might not be the case," he says. "I'm not saying I know how much they made–this is just my guess. But the IP itself was very fresh [and featured] new types of gameplay. I know it's not a game a lot of studios were making, and we have to keep trying [that approach]."
Kim suggests corporations like Krafton shouldn't aspire to deliver an infinite procession of chart-topping hits, largely because that's a wildly unrealistic aim. Instead, he feels the goal should be to "break even" while nurturing creativity.
"Just recoup the production costs, please, is what I say. But that in itself is a pretty big challenge. If you try doing that, you might actually land a big hit. I don't trust people who say 'oh, this is going to be a hit.' I want someone who can try something new," he says.
"The big hit shouldn't be your goal. If you think about it that way, Hi-Fi Rush might have brought in a little bit of a minus in terms of the financials, but it's a team that should be encouraged to create something new and continue their journey. We want to have more teams like that under our umbrella."
用通义+自己校正试试：
根据金昌汉，Krafton首席执行官的说法，从微软手中收购Tango Gameworks是笔“最后一刻的交易”。 他在接受Game Developer采访时表示，这次收购更多是出于创造性的考虑，而非商业动机。 “我们想保留他们的传承，”金昌汉说。“尽管游戏在商业上并未大获成功，但我们看到了许多值得追求的创意。所以我们想与他们合作。” 金昌汉说，Krafton希望尽可能接收Tango的员工来延续其传承。该日本工作室于2023年5月被微软关闭，韩国公司Krafton(以其开发的大逃杀游戏PUBG而闻名)对《Hi-Fi Rush》情有独钟，并寻求收购该知识产权以开发续集。
“因为《Hi-Fi Rush》的粉丝们真的希望看到续集，所以我们与Tango Gameworks的母公司微软进行谈判以收购该IP，”他说。据金昌汉称，Tango Gameworks的突然关闭使员工们感到焦虑，这促使Krafton尽快完成交易。
“我们希望交易能尽早完成，以减少他们的职业空档期，”他补充道。金昌汉表示，像微软这样规模和复杂的财团很难快速行动，但Xbox制造商对出售工作室及其IP持开放态度。
鉴于Krafton认为此次收购时间紧迫，该公司决定专注于购买《Hi-Fi Rush》特许经营权，而不是Tango的所有IP——包括《The Evil Within》和《Ghostwire: Tokyo》。
“收购所有IP会令交易过于复杂。Krafton并不是什么小公司，但比微软还是差远了，”他说。“我们想帮助团队继续开发他们的游戏，特别是《Hi-Fi Rush》。当想到我们的粉丝时，我们认为他们真正关心的是《Hi-Fi Rush》的续集。”
收购仍在走最终确认流程，这让金昌汉无法披露Krafton的具体收购耗资。但他确实将此次收购描述为“不太贵，也不太便宜。”
“我们不能光把规模转换成金钱，其意义才更被看重，”他补充道。“收购金额对微软来说并不是真正重要的。”
据Game File此前报道，Krafton已经接纳了大约50名来自Tango Gameworks的员工，约为该工作室在微软旗下时开发团队的一半。当前目标是帮助工作室重新扩大规模，甚至进一步扩张。
“我认为至少100人是我们所瞄准的数字。我们必须把这个规模扩大到大约这个数目。这是继续开发该系列的最低要求。或者他们可能需要一个更大的团队。我们还没有决定这一点，但我们计划不会减少团队的规模，”金昌汉说。
“他们还需要从事新项目，所以有很大的可能性团队将进一步扩大。”
Krafton总裁希望收购更多像Tango这样的工作室
至于Krafton对工作室有什么期待，金昌汉希望能在没有失败压力的情况下激发创造力。他表示，Krafton将努力承担风险，以创造出感觉新颖而不是模仿的作品。“我们正试图增加我们的产品线，而Tango Gameworks在这方面起到了作用，”他说，并指出Tango之前的许多游戏“可能连成本都没有收回”。
“我们不能基于财务状况或数字来收购Tango Gameworks，对吧？坦白说，我们不觉得《Hi-Fi Rush 2》会带来利润，”他继续说道。“但利润也只是目标之一。我们必须不断以挑战精神来进行尝试[开发游戏]。”
当被问及《Hi-Fi Rush》对微软来说算不算商业成功时，金昌汉表示他不知道游戏的实际营收，但考虑道制作成本，他认为它可能没有带来实质性回报。
“它为微软带来了可观收入了吗？大概没有，”他说。“我不是说我确切知道他们赚了多少——这只是我个人的猜测。但这个IP本身非常新颖，[并提供了]新游戏模式。这不是大部分工作室的方向，而我们必须不断尝试[这种做法]。”
金昌汉认为像Krafton这样的企业不该追求无休止地推出爆款，因为这是个极不现实的目标。相反，他认为目标应该是“收支平衡”，同时培育创造力。
“请至少收回制作成本，这是我说的。但这本身就是一个相当大的挑战。如果你尝试这样做，你可能会真正取得巨大成功。我不相信那些口口声声‘啊这必火’的人，而更想要能够尝试新事物的人，”他说。
“不应该将出爆款视为目标。按这一思路，《Hi-Fi Rush》可能对财务略有不良影响，却是个应该被鼓励去创新并继续践行其道的团队。而我们希望在我们伞下拥有更多的类似的团队。”
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发表于 2024-9-20 15:50
那篇报道可太有趣了，甚至提到了完美音浪一开始是基于PS5开发的，被微软收购后才取消了PS5版本。嘛，被收购成了独占游戏无可厚非。但是专门写报道澄清完美音浪的开发并不受Xbox收购Bethesda的影响，并没有因此进行任何调整。真是伪君子到爆炸。
