Hi-Fi-Rush and The Evil Within games being "positive" review bombed on Steam in wake of Microsoft's closure of Tango Gameworks
Review bombs are usually a bad thing, but this is different.
Steam users have taken to the service to review bomb Tango Gameworks titles Hi-Fi Rush, The Evil Within, and The Evil Within 2 - but in a positive manner.
Review bombs are usually made in anger over some reason or another, mainly as an attack on the game as a whole, its developer, or over being “woke” or not “woke” enough. The reasons are endless, really.
But sometimes, folks band together and positively review bomb a game in support, as is currently the case with three Tango Gameworks titles.
Not that Hi-Fi Rush didn’t have Overwhelmingly Positive reviews already, but the most recent reviews number over 1,000. How many of those were “bombs” is unknown. The game was not only a big hit with players, but critics too, and one of our Games of the Year in 2023. It was also the winner of various industry awards.
Meanwhile, The Evil Within Games are also being shown some love by Steam users giving the first entry many, many “Very Positive” reviews, and the same can be said regarding The Evil Within 2 (thanks, Dexerto).
Earlier this week, news broke that Microsoft was shutting down other studios alongside Tango Gameworks. The other studios were Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games. The news was broken to staff via an email sent by Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios.
In the email, Booty stated the closures weren’t a “reflection of the creativity and skill of the talented individuals at these teams or the risks they took to try new things,” and that these “tough decisions” were made to “increase investment” in other parts of the company’s portfolio and “focus on priority games."
When addressing staffers during an internal town hall meeting later that day, he stated the company wants "smaller games that give us prestige and awards".
Kinda like Hi-Fi Rush, we reckon.