Hi-Fi Rush was one of the early releases of last year. After its announcement and worldwide release on January 25, 2023, Hi-Fi Rush eventually became a big hit, grossing an average of 89 points on PC and 87 points on Xbox Series X on Metacritic. Now there are rumors that Xbox is considering the release of Hi-Fi Rush on a rival console—Nintendo Switch precisely.
Towards the end of the year, it bagged five nominations at The Game Awards. Hi-Fi Rush was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Score and Music, Best Audio Design, Innovation in Accessibility, and Best Action Game. Eventually, it won in the Best Audio Design category. Hi-Fi Rush also made it to BAFTA’s Best Video Games of 2023 and won the Steam Awards for Best Soundtrack.
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Developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks, Hi-Fi Rush was unarguably one of the surprise releases of 2023. However, many believed that the game would have performed better if it was released on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch.
Rumors have it that Hi-Fi Rush is planned for Nintendo Switch release
The claims are strong that Hi-Fi Rush will come to Nintendo Switch later this year. NateTheHate who has a strong reputation when it comes to spilling exclusive insider information started the rumor through his podcast. He said that a “high critical acclaim” first-party Xbox title was coming to a competitor platform in 2024.
Although NateTheHate didn’t specify the platform, more rumors later emerged suggesting that Hi-Fi Rush will be coming to Nintendo Switch. One notable comment was from ResetEra user lolilolailo who indirectly confirmed the platform was Nintendo Switch.
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Lolilolailo has a reputation for making accurate predictions in the past with Xbox-related leaks. The user has previously predicted information about ATLUS and Persona series which both turned out to be true. Nevertheless, always take every rumor with a grain of salt.
Only 50% of Hi-Fi Rush players on Xbox beat the first boss
As of March 1, 2023, Bethesda said that Hi-Fi Rush had reached over two million players. However, it was claimed by Jeff Grubb, an industry insider, during an episode of his Game Mess Decides podcast that the game “didn’t make the money it needed to make”.
“Based on what I’ve heard, it just straight up didn’t make the money it needed to make,” Grubb said. “It got good reviews, and the buzz was good, so where do you put the blame for something like that?”
The logical explanation as to why a game would have great reviews and attract 2 million players but still not make money is that most of the players interacted with it through Game Pass. While the Game Pass model can make it easier for players to discover games that they may not have originally purchased, it makes it harder to track a game’s success in terms of how many copies were sold.
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Another reason why Hi-Fi Rush may not have hit its revenue target may be because of the difference in enthusiasm between Xbox and PlayStation gamers. There has been an ongoing debate around this, and I would not want to get entangled in it. However, to cut a long story short, the sentiment is that PlayStation gamers are more enthusiastic—and by extension appreciate games better.
The Hi-Fi Rush achievements data suggests that only 50% of players who started the game made it beyond the first level. It was revealed that only 49% of Hi-Fi Rush players on Xbox managed to defeat the QA-1MIL boss and unlock the “Start with a Bang!” achievement trophy.
The percentage of players drops further as you go down the achievement log, suggesting that although Hi-Fi Rush attracted over 3 million players, it struggled to retain them. What is hard to tell is whether the problem was from the game or the appetite of Xbox players.
Hi-Fi Rush DLC is something that Tango Gameworks may be considering. New achievements were added to SteamDB which suggested the studio may be working on a DLC. Until now, the description of the achievements or how to unlock them has remained hidden. Although it was widely predicted the DLC would come last year, that didn’t happen.
