The launch of Hi-Fi Rush caught all of us by surprise; no one expected the game to be announced and to be available that same day. We are also talking about a great game man, everything is said. Although this type of drop, which is called a “Shadow Drop”, is not exclusive to the Tango Gameworks game, We already saw it first with Apex Legends.
Already at the time, Electronic Arts recognized that making a shadow drop or surprise launch of Apex Legends was possible thanks to its free to play modality. So obviously you can’t extrapolate this model to any kind of game if you want to make sure it’s not a commercial flop.
Phil Spencer also confirms that surprise releases are not for all games
Something similar has happened to Hi-Fi Rush, which has benefited from the traction that a service like Game Pass gives you. The game went viral in minutes since there could be literally millions of people playing it and sharing material without paying the obligatory 30 euros that the game costs without a subscription. This effect has made it a sales success on Steam as well, where there are no subscription models that lower the cost of the copy.
This is a reality that has been confirmed by Phil Spencer himself, who has given all the credit to Tango Gameworks and Bethesda for the launch of the game. Furthermore, he has recognized not only that with Game Pass these types of releases are viable; but actually it is not valid for all types of games.
All credit goes to TangoGameworks, they had an idea to build something new. The idea for the shadow drop came from Bethesda, it’s fun to have some positive surprises, obviously XboxGamePass makes shadow drop easy, but it won’t be suitable for all games; however, the reaction to Hi-Fi Rush has been incredible.
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