Hi Fi Rush did worse than Microsoft expected according to Grubb, Greenberg denies

[Legend]

I was just trying to say that I heard Hi-Fi Rush didn't make the money it was expected to make. But to be clear, I don't really know how Microsoft measures success. This was just a small, passing statement in a larger conversation. It wasn't meant to make people worry about HFR. https://t.co/kFHGWbp0hA

— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) April 21, 2023

I'm shocked by this. The reaction was so positive and it seamed like a shining example of gamepass done right. If this was below expectations, what the heck does that mean for gamepass's future?

[kitler53]

it's a weird drama today but...

if MS had any expectations beyond people downloading it for free on gamepass than MS had the wrong expectations.  a small title like this shadow dropped should have roughly 0 expectations for actually generating any direct revenue.

[the-pi-guy]

Eh maybe?

Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.

— Aaron Greenberg ???????????????U (@aarongreenberg) April 21, 2023

[Legend]

Eh maybe?

Hi-Fi RUSH was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release.

— Aaron Greenberg ???????????????U (@aarongreenberg) April 21, 2023

Wonder why grub heard the opposite?

Or maybe Greenberg is just doing pr. Could have done worse than expected while still doing really great.

[nnodley]

i'm guessing its greenberg being greenberg.  He's like the kind of spin.

I don't see a world where it really made any sort of money.  Sure, might have had the initial positive reaction, but all talk about the game has fallen off a cliff after the first week or 2.

[kitler53]

agreed with greenberg just doing PR.   of course he's not going to say it was a complete failure.   hell, by reasonable accounts it probably wasn't a failure.   even though talk has fallen off after a few weeks what more can you expect?!?   people who played the game liked it.   quite a few people probably played it free on gamepass.  this is about as good as any reasonable person can expect for a short and quirky single player game.

the thing grubb said was "it didn't make money".   i believe him on that.   i highly doubt this game had much in the way of unit sales in exchange for $$.    a vast majority of players no-doubtedly downloaded it for free via gamepass.   indies are saying the same thing theses days,.. if you don't get approved on gamepass you can't make money on xbox.   

it seems to me to be a case of MS just figuring out that if you give away all your games on gamepass you won't sell many games.  people who hardly buy any games a year aren't going to be buying gamepass either.   it was never a question of $$ but time,.. they don't want to dedicate 25 hours a week to playing games.   they occasionally buy a game (probably just 1 a year) and that's enough for them.   what MS seem to be figuring out is gamepass isn't hitting their projections because the only people that want a service like this are the one that used to buy many-dozens of games a year.  the "whales".  now they are not buying games.   ...and with these people not buying games i'll wager xbox's game unit sales has dropped by around 80-50% and gamepass revenue isn't enough to offset it.   whales drive the industry.   casuals put a game like GTA or CoD into the stratosphere but whales are they one driving the industry.

[the-pi-guy]

I shouldn'tve said "needed" on the podcast. I don't know what it needed to do. The conversation we were having was about generating revenue, and the game didn't hit that target.

But no matter what, HFR isn't a flop, and Tango's future is bright.https://t.co/eHi3knznoC

— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) April 21, 2023