The head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, has suggested that the closure of Tango Gameworks was influenced by changes in the studio’s creative leadership. This revelation came during Booty’s appearance on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, where he discussed the reasons behind the decision.

Booty refrained from naming specific individuals but implied that the departure of key leaders at Tango contributed to the studio’s shutdown. He emphasized that despite the success of “Hi-Fi Rush,” future projects under the new leadership were uncertain. “I won’t get into the real nitty-gritty details on what went into the decision, mostly out of respect for the people there,” Booty said. “There was a lot of work that went into delivering Hi-Fi Rush, which was a great game and did well for us.”

He continued, “I think the thing to be considered is that for us it’s as much a forward-looking situation as much as it is looking back at one certain game. There are a lot of things that go into success for a game – what leadership do you have, what creative leadership do you have, is the team the same team that shipped something successful previously? We have to look at all of those things together and ask ourselves, are we set up for success going forward?”

While Booty didn’t explicitly mention names, his comments seem to allude to the departure of Tango Gameworks’ founder, Shinji Mikami, in 2023. Mikami, a renowned figure in the gaming industry for his work on titles like “The Evil Within” and the “Resident Evil” series, left Tango to start a new venture. This leadership vacuum likely influenced Microsoft’s decision regarding Tango’s future.

Booty also revealed that closing Tango Gameworks was not the only option considered. He cited examples of other Xbox-owned studios that transitioned to independence, such as Toys For Bob, which reverted to independence and secured a publishing deal with Xbox. He also mentioned Twisted Pixel, a Texas-based studio that separated from Xbox but continued to thrive independently.

“With many of our studios, we try to look at options,” Booty explained. “For example, we recently had Toys For Bob, a studio that was previously working on Call of Duty titles, go back out and become a new independent studio, and we’ve announced that we’ve got a publishing deal with them. I think back to a studio called Twisted Pixel in Texas, that we acquired, then for a change in goals – it wasn’t a perfect match anymore – that studio today is still thriving, we wanted to set them up for success.”

Booty concluded by acknowledging that while efforts are made to explore various business options, sometimes the circumstances do not align for a successful transition.