(Squanch announced earlier this month that studio co-founder Justin Roiland has resigned from the company after 2020 charges of domestic abuse came to light in newly uncovered court documents. Last December, Squanch Games’ High On Life, a game that didn’t strive to be the next blocbuster, or overstay its welcome past what it did well, was the biggest Game Pass success of the year. While it's safe to say the big, triple-A releases we’ve grown accustomed to isn’t going anywhere, Hi-Fi Rush’s popularity, with a surprise release following zero marketing, is proof that there’s an appetite and audience for well-funded, masterfully crafted, mid-sized games. And as this trend took hold, smaller studios that were capable of making smaller games that gamers might find and play on a whim either folded or were bought up by publishers by the late 2000s and early 2010s. Many of the world’s biggest publishers were dead set on creating products with massive budgets in marketing and development. These smaller games became less common in the last decade as some of gaming’s biggest successes, like Grand Theft Auto 5, Skyrim, and Destiny set the tone, and a monetization model for a newer generation. These kinds of games may have been considered bigger budget releases in the early 2000s, but are easily dwarfed by today’s biggest productions both in scope and budget. Part of what makes Hi-Fi Rush unique is it fills a void that only smaller, independent titles and Switch games have for nearly a decade.
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