Surprise Xbox Release ‘Hi-Fi Rush’ Attracts Stellar Scores, And Solid Sales
Hi-Fi Rush
Hi-Fi Rush
Easily the highlight of yesterday’s Xbox showcase was the surprise announcement, and then release, of Hi-Fi Rush from the team behind both Evil Within games, a jarring change in tone.
The rhythm-based combat game was a secret until the showcase, and had the extra, extremely unusual step of dropping live that very same day as a full release. But it wasn’t just a fun gimmick, as it turns out, Hi-Fi Rush is a very good game, and not some freebie throwaway offering by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve noticed two significant things about early tracking for Hi-Fi Rush:
First, the game has attracted a 99% “extremely positive” review score on Steam with 400+ reviews in. Exceptional numbers, and ones that could have been influenced by some negative console war bombing, which does not appear to be happening, thankfully.
Hi-Fi Rush
Steam
Second, the game is actually a top seller on Steam right now, despite being a high profile Xbox Game Pass release. On Steam’s revenue charts, the $30 title is currently in fifth place, actually the highest, currently released game on the list. Number one is the Steam deck (I never know why they even put this on the list), Two and four are pre-sales for Hogwarts Legacy and Dead Space. Three is CSGO which is there because of microtransctions. But there’s Hi-Fi Rush in fifth place. Very impressive.
There is other data we just don’t have in yet. Xbox’s “Most Played’ charts lag a little bit, so it will take a day or two for Hi-Fi Rush to appear there, though I would not be surprised to see it shoot to the top. The game also does not have any scored critic reviews in, given that it was surprise insta-released, and Metacritic isn’t opening up user scores either until later today. But all indications are that this isn’t just a fun surprise, it’s a very solid game.
I would absolutely not expect to see things like Hi-Fi Rush’s stealth release happen too often, but it was a clever trick by Xbox, and easily the highlight of an already big day yesterday for the brand. It’s yet another feather in the Game Pass cap, and while I wonder about the economics of a game dropped on Game Pass with no marketing or pre-hype, we can also see it’s selling well on Steam as well, which is a promising sign. Very neat little experiment here, one that seems to be paying off in spades.
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